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Elder N. Summerbell. 



SOME NOTES OF THE LIFE 



AND SOME OF 



THE WRITINGS 



NICHOLAS SUMMERBELL 



EDITED BY HIS SON 



j. J. SUMMERBELL 




DAYTON, OHIO 
1900 



^> 



49626 



Library of Congress 

1 m Copies kecked 
SEP 20 1900 

Copyright entry 
SECOND COPY. 

Ofcitvered to 

GKOIR DIVISION, 
SEP 24 1900 



80194 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1900, 

By J. J. SUMMERBELL, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 



Qztiimtzti 
To My Mother, Mrs. E. J. Summerbell, 

WHOSE LONG COMPANIONSHIP AND EFFICIENT AID MADE 

THE LIFE OF HER HUSBAND, N. SUMMEEBELL, 

SO SUCCESSFUL AND USEFUL IN THE 

MINISTRY ; AND 

*Tfl ftfcmg ©tfcer ©frristfeHx Friends 

WHO HAVE ASKED THE PREPARATION OF THIS VOLUME. 



HOW TO USE THIS BOOK. 



(It seeks to be an effective memorial by being useful.) 

If you were interested in N. Summerbell personally, read 
according to your inclination. 

If you were not, examine the coarse print, with the assistance 
of the indexes, according to the following suggestions : 

The " General Index " does not contain Scripture references. 
Use it for subjects, titles, proper names, etc. Such topics as 
these are indexed — spiritual, theological, practical, biblical, 
national, political, social, temperance, personal, historical, 
travel, pioneer, missionary, etc. 

The "Scripture Index" contains references to quotations 
from the Bible, whether explained or not. 

By the use of the indexes the book may be made to assist in 
solving some questions of theological interest. 

Use the indexes. That is the way to use the book. 

There are two kinds of notation for Scripture references : 

1.. Letters and figures : as, Mat. vii. 6 ; signifying, Matthew 
seventh chapter, and sixth verse. 

2. Figures only : as, Mat. 7:6; signifying the same. 

Use the indexes for cross references. 

We make no apology for repetition of defense of the prin- 
ciples of the people called only Christians, with whom N. 
Summerbell was so long associated, for such repetition was 
characteristic of him ; and the book, while being useful, is to 
picture Summerbell and his beloved w 7 ork truthfully. Besides, 
the repetitions are usually somewhat varied in style, state- 
ment, and matter. 



NICHOLAS SUMMERBELL. 



Nicholas Summerbell was a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
the Son of God, for a half century, and deserves to be remembered 
with abiding admiration, because — 

I. He preached that gospel in apostolic directness, power, and 
love. 

II. His pulpit eloquence, logical force, epigrammatic terseness, 
and mental ability of various kinds, made him remarkable in any 
.gathering of ministers. 

III. He was wonderfully faithful to truth and to duty. Indeed, 
truth and love were the guides of his life, under £he Lord. 

iy. His general character was one of unusual simplicity and 
high Christian development. 

He was born in Westchester County, New York, March 8, 1816, 
and died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, January 4, 1889. 

The following are records taken from various family Bibles : 

"James Summerbell was born May 30, 1787, and died November 22, 
.1822. 

" Mary Ferris Summerbell, wife of James Summerbell, was born May 
10, 1790, and died May 6, 1875, and was within four days of being 85 
years old when she died. 

"Joseph F., son of James and Mary, and brother of Nicholas Sum- 
merbell, was born March 9, 1813, and died December 9, 1841. 

"His daughter, Mary Catharine, or Kate, Joseph Summerbell's oldest 
daughter, died in Brooklyn, New York, May 31, 1874, on Sunday morn- 
ing. A death in Christ. 

"Joseph Sutton, the father of Mrs. Euphemia J. Summerbell, died 
in 1830, in his 77th year. 

"Christian Sutton, Euphemia J. Summerbell's mother, was born 
September 9, 1782, and died October 27, 1864, at the house of her son, 
Joseph C. Sutton, at Hope, Warren County, New Jersey. She was the 
widow of Joseph Sutton, and the daughter of James and Lucretia 
Kinney." 

Euphemia Johnson Sutton, who became the wife of Nicholas 
Summerbell, the subject of this history, was born May 11, 181 7, in 
the village of Hope, Warren County, New Jersey. 



8 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The ancestors, Nicholas Summerbell and Jane Wilson, were born in 
Northumberland, England, near Scotland. They were married in 1760. 
They came to America, landing in New York; thence going by sloop to 
Peekskill. They bought land about five miles from there, in what is 
known as Scrub Oak Plains, where they remained during life. They had 
four children, the eldest a son named James. He was twelve years old 
at the time of their coming to this country. One and one-fourth miles 
from Peekskill Landing was the beautiful home farm of Joseph Ferris. 
When the farm was sold afterward, a few acres were bought by Rev. 
Henry Ward Beecher, and the old house was his summer residence for a 
number of years. 

Nicholas Summerbell and Joseph Ferris and their wives were the 
grandparents of Rev. Nicholas Summerbell, D.D., the subject of this 
history. 

James Summerbell, son of Nicholas, married Mary Ferris, daughter 
of Joseph. To them were born five children, the eldest a girl of four 
years when her father enlisted in the war of 1812. Peace soon followed, 
and he returned to his home, a non-commissioned officer. 

The Ferris family were devoted members of the Church of England ; 
the Summerbell family as devoted Baptists. James Summerbell and 
wife, engaging in the service of God, united with the Methodist Church ; 
and he soon became prominent in his section, being a diligent student, 
and having a natural talent for preaching. But he died suddenly at the 
age of thirty-five, from an injury received in the Seamon Mill, taking 
an affectionate leave of his beloved wife, and leaving messages of love to 
the children too young to understand him then. At the time of his 
death he was inclined to be independent, objecting to the episcopal 
government. 

Years later, two of his sons, Nicholas and Benjamin, living in New 
York City, almost young men, on their annual vacation, landed at 
Peekskill with gunS and ammunition, traveled across fields and moun- 
tains, taking their meals, and lodging with the farmers wherever con- 
venient, and were recognized as the sons of James Summer! >ell (from 
some resemblance ) by some persons whom they had never before met 
or heard of. Said one, "I knew your father well; he was a good man, 
and a good preacher." 

N. Summerbell, long afterward, wrote lovingly of his uncles as 
follows, when editor of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, November 24, 

1877: 

I have just, in one letter, received word of the death of two of my 
long-deceased father's early companions ; viz., Uncle Charles Ferris, of 
Harmonsburg, near Meadville, Pennsylvania, who died in his eighty- 
fifth year, and Thomas Blakeney, of Brooklyn, New York, in his eighty- 
third year. Blakeney was the loving companion of my father, Rev. 
James Summerbell, in revival meetings more than half a century ago, 
and was my mother's sister's husband; and Charles Ferris was my 
mother's youngest brother, and died at about the age that my mother 
did. The Christian students of Meadville sometimes visited Charles 
Ferris. Thus we are all gathering on the other shore. 

After the death of their father, the family was scattered, being poor; 
and the Grandfather Ferris took Joseph and Benjamin, and the Grand- 
father Summerbell took Nicholas, who was six years old. Ann Matilda, 
who was the oldest, and James, who was the youngest, stayed with their 
mother. The Grandfather Summerbell was a weaver by trade, and lived 
on a small farm. They were strict Old School Baptists in religion, good 



FAMILY ORIGIN • H 

people, but great workers and very saving. Nicholas soon learned to 
work, and his grandmother, at meals, would let him have molasses on 
his last buckwheat cake — the one after he was "done eating his cakes 
and gravy." Qne day he went to see his mother, and she gave him 
butter aud molasses on all his cakes, and it seemed so good that he 
wondered in his child mind why his grandmother did not let him have 
it, for she had so much more than his mother. He would sometimes 
feel homesick to see his mother, sister and brothers, when he would hear 
his grandfather and grandmother tell of his aunts. 

One day he was at a neighbor's and the boys talked disrespectfully to 
their father and mother, and it made him feel so badly that he went be- 
hind the barn alone, sat down and cried, to think that his father was 
dead and that he could not live at home with his mother. His home 
with his grandfather was five miles away from the place where his 
brother, James, lived. His visits to his mother's house were always 
occasions of joy. 

Though he was not the oldest of the five children, his sister, Ann 
Matilda, and brother, Joseph, being older, he was soon "regarded as an. 
elder brother," such was the interest he felt for the welfare of all. 

In his mother's inconsolable grief, his visits were invaluable to her. 
"He early and always aspired to associate with the good; they were 
never ashamed of the company he chose, nor of the habits he formed." 

The feelings entertained, toward his mother, after a long life, will 
appear from the following letter N. Summerbell wrote to his wife on 
May 7, 1875 : 

Friday, 7. — Dear mother lies in the parlor in her coffin. We start 
for Peekskill to-morrow at 5:00 a.m., and hope to have the funeral 
in Peekskill at 3:00 p.m.; then go six miles and bury. Mother died 
yesterday, 2 : 20. I arrived at 6 : 00 the previous afternoon. She was 
far gone. Oh how sorrowful, to see her slowly, but surely, dying. I 
held her hand, and felt her pulse, and watched every change. She ate 
dinner at table Monday. She was ready, and looking. They noticed 
that everything was done up, all in place, and much of silent arrange- 
ment, which is plain now. Oh how much I can tell you of her Christ- 
love and goodness! She looks so sweet now. She is dressed in her own 
black silk, and lies in the coffin looking as though she must open her 
eyes and speak. How strange to see that precious mother, who loved 
us so truly for more than half a century, so affectionate, blind to faults, 
self-sacrificing, religious, a Christian, a Christian for seventy years, or 
since 1805, growing more and more heavenlike, and heavenly and trust- 
ing! No failure of mind! Pray for me. James started at 5:00 this 
morning to Peekskill, to give notice, get a church, preacher and car- 
riages, and grave prepared. She died yesterday, 2:20. To-day, at about 
the same time, we got a telegram from Elder B. F. S., at Greenpoint, 
New York, 160 miles off, saying, "I will meet you at Peekskill." So 
they have the word. Sister "is not able to go. Mary Shaffer, I suppose, 
will, and Rachel. James is there. James has charge at Petersburg. 
Sister will soon move to New York. Try to keep well. God bless yoii. 

N. S. 

His brother James writes us as follows, of Nicholas Summerbell's 
early life: 



10 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

In those early days, making no pretense to religion, his convictions 
of truth and its right to dominate were always impressive. He often 
excited my curiosity, to say the least, by his knowledge of the distinc- 
tion that made the difference, where he thought there should be no 
difference between Christian denominations. How this grew with his 
growth, and strengthened with his strength, others can judge. Hap- 
pily, his mind, so occupied, never experimented among the mysteries of 
tobacco, strong drinks, or profanities. This had much to do in forming 
the elements of the boy he was into the man he became. 

His brother speaks further, as follows: 

He was yet in his teens when he left his country home and life in 
Peekskill to try his fortunes in New York City. Advantages he had 
few or none, save this: he had himself. The old-fashioned district 
school then, and, if I remember right, an inside look in the academy, 
and a push over the lines into such collegiate studies as he could reach, 
backed up by energy and will, comprised his early outfit for the battles 
he fought in later years. These, with the books left by our deceased 
father, which he used because he wanted them, comprised his early 
literary capital for study. 

Leaving his early home in Peekskill for New York City, the world 
became wider and longer before and around him. He saw larger and 
higher responsibilities, and sought the qualifications for assuming them. 
Regardless of order, work and study were harnessed for ready use. A 
few years I was with him again, as were the rest of our family. I have 
known him habitually to attend to his business by day and seemingly 
study till the morning crowded the dawn. This was after he had con- 
secrated himself to the service of the Master. Born as he w r as in the 
narrows between the hyper-Calvinism of his grandfather and the 
Methodism of his father, he intelligently chose between the two, and 
those who read his writings will have no difficulty as to which he was. 

He was fourteen years old when he went to New York to search for 
work and to make his own battle in life. His mother gave him half a 
dollar, and he went with a neighbor on a market-wagon to the city. 
He was compelled to use half of his money for food, and at night he 
only had one quarter of a dollar, and he thought that if he used that to 
pay for lodgings he would have nothing to buy food with in the morn- 
ing if he did not get work; so he walked the streets all night his first 
night in the city of New 'York. He was afraid to sit down, lest he 
should go to sleep, or the "watchman " would take him to the " watch- 
house," as it was called then. In those days the " watchmen " cried out 
the hours of the night, and in listening to them he helped to overcome 
his tendency to sleep. He was glad of daylight, and looked for stores 
to open to search for work. He went into a number of places with no 
success, but at last found a grocer who wanted a boy. To the question 
what he could do in a grocery, he replied that he " could soon learn to do 
almost anything if he would just show him how he wanted things 
done." The proprietor took him through the store to an alley, and told 
him to set up "those pins," just as he did, when men knocked them 
down. The boy had never seen such things. Soon rough men coming 
in began to knock them down, swearing as they played. He worked till 
near noon, then went into the store and asked the grocer if he could not 
get another boy to do that work, for he did not like it; the men were so 



BEGINNINGS IN LIFE 11 

rough; he would rather look for other work. The grocer patted him on 
the shoulder and said: 

"I like you all the better, my boy, for not liking that' work." 

He gave him a half-dollar, took him into the house, gave him his 
dinner, and let him go. 

He soon found a place in another grocery, where the owner was kind 
and things pleasant. The man gave him crackers and candy right away 
and told him to go to the jars and get and eat all he wanted at any 
time; and he would urge them on him, until he got such a dislike to 
candy and crackers that he could not bear the taste of either. Then he 
concluded in his own mind that the grocer's kindness was interested, 
but he liked him. 

His next business was to learn the tailor's trade. In this he had many 
hardships. The proprietor was an Irishman and Roman Catholic. 
When Nicholas got to doing a journeyman's work, he was cheated out 
of his wages. And long afterward, as he and his wife were traveling in 
a buggy, they saw a tailor's sign along a country road ahead of them. 
"Elder" Summerbell at once recognized the name and said to his bride, 
"That is my old employer." He drove up to the door, went in, and 
asked the tailor if he knew him. He answered, "No." Then Summer- 
bell called him by name, and said : " My name is Nicholas Summerbell, 
and you remember you cheated me out of $ — ( naming the amount ) 
when I worked for you in your tailor shop in New York." Then he got 
into the buggy and drove on. 

It was during this time of his tailor work that he would walk a 
mile and a half in bitter cold weather, after nine o'clock at night, 
rather than sleep with a man who chewed tobacco, considering his 
breath offensive. 

All these years were years of toil, changes, and hardships, in trying to 
help others, educate himself, and build up a business. During this 
period his sister moved to the city, then his mother. 

The following are extracts from a letter of his brother, B. F. Summer- 
bell, addressed to the writer : 

Moscow, Pa., November 14, 1889. 

My Dear Nephew: You call for illustrative incidents in the life 
of my brother, your father. When I was fifteen or sixteen years old, 
and having my home on Forsyth Street, New York, I was terrified by 
one called the bully of the street. Your father was about eighteen. He 
accompanied me once, and the bully learned a lesson in prudence. Yet 
your father was no brawler. His protection was more like that of a 
father than that of an ordinary youth. 

His conversion was radical, and to our orthodox kindred the cause 
of sadness. Our sister was first led to hear Elder Isaac N. Walter. 
Her brothers sought in vain to keep her from the meetings. They 
would go as far as the church and wait outside till the close, to see her 
safely home. In the meantime Elder Walter was attacked by strong 
editorials in the Christian Advocate. To deny the trinity was regarded 
as worse than avowed infidelity. And, to the mortification of your 
father, Elder Walter was more than a match for the Methodist editor. 
He concluded that he could do better. He found the task more difficult 
than he supposed. 



12 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

When your father put the door-plate on his house in Milford, he was 
asked why he did not have his full name on the plate. His answer was, 
" Any Summerbell can have a home here." 

I don't know that I ever saw him disturbed by opposition or 
misrepresentation. His good nature in some instances might seem 
excessive. While tying his horse at one of his preaching stations, he 
was told that a had lately preached there. 

"Well!" 

" But he said you were not orthodox." 

" Did he say that?" 

" Yes, and he repeated it. He said the Christians were not orthodox. 
The are orthodox." 

" Didn't he say burdocks? It may be he meant burdocks." 

His was always a pure life. When quite young, before his conver- 
sion, he was associated with some who daily had beer brought in to 
drink. He refused to contribute anything for that purpose, saying, 
"For bread I '11 give freely, but not for the drink." I do not suppose that 
he ever used as a beverage what would be equal to a glass of brandy, or 
used tobacco to the extent of one cigar. 

He received some advantages from attending for a brief time, how 
long cannot be now ascertained, a school or "college" in the city. He 
did not afterward speak with respect of the principal. Possibly it was 
Go ward's College. 

In 1834 Nicholas Summerbell was a merchant tailor on Grand Street. 

The facts of his conversion were as follows : 

The Christians, in February, 1834, were holding services in their 
church. His sister, Ann Matilda, attended the special meetings with 
considerable frequency. Nicholas, true to the Methodism of his father, 
did not deign to attend the meetings of the Christians, and opposed his 
sister on the subject, but when he would shut up his business house at 
about the time the services might be expected to close, he would go and 
wait outside, near the door, to escort his sister home. 

At the church on the "corner of Broome and Norfolk streets," on one 
occasion the crowd was greater than usual. The main front door was 
open. Eager spectators or listeners were looking in, and the crowd 
stretched out into the street. Nicholas, seeing the interest manifested, 
looked directly from the street into the open door. At the moment 
when he was in the direct line of vision, Elder Isaac N. Walter, in the 
pulpit of the church, was leaning forward with impassioned manner,, 
with outstretched hand, and with flashing eye, gazing forward and up- 
ward, exclaiming with wonderful tenderness but vehement force, "My 
Savior is the Son of God." The great man was pleading with sinners to 
be reconciled to God. The beauty of the attitude and person of the 
preacher, the music of his voice, the fervent expression of his counte- 
nance, all moved the listener. The emphasis of the preacher was double, 
and with his peculiar art he made the double emphasis in such a way as 
not to break the force of the pressure in either case. He said, " My 
Savior is the Son of God," slowly, lovingly, but yet vehemently, and as 
if himself swept along by an irresistible tide of deepest feeling. The 
preacher was evidently no ordinary speaker, and certainly sincere. He 
seemed to claim the "Son of God" for himself. The thought of the 



CONVERSION 13 

Son of God never left his hearer of that night. He preached it till he 
died. * 

Nicholas listened with closest attention, as well as he was able, and 
at the close of the meeting escorted his sister home in silence. The 
next night, according to her statement, when she "rose to prepare for 
church, he also got his cloak and hat. She said : 

" ' Where are you going? ' 

'"To church with you.' 

'"Oh, I am so glad!' 

" He did go, and when the invitation was given, he went down that 
aisle as if he meant it." 

He became very active as a young convert, exercising "his gift," and 
seeking to bring other young people to his newly found Savior. Seven 
young men, his brother James, a boy, among them, were baptized at the 
same time. James has written me as follows : 

J. E. Brush was very active. Very early in the morning the candi- 
dates for baptism met at the church, corner Norfolk and Broome streets, 
New York. Francis A. Palmer, then running a line of onmibusses, 
furnished gratuitous ride to the East River, wmere, by means of a hole 
through the ice and a short stepladder, Elder I. N. Walter led us down 
to our baptism. Docks, piers, and boats were loaded with spectators. 
It was just "at the break of day." Our hearts were glad, and if the 
water was cold, we took no note of it, as we went on our way rejoicing. 
Stephen Powers, now of Brooklyn, and J. B. Kearsted, baptized then, 
are not forgotten now when N. Summerbell is remembered. 

About this time my brother became engaged in literary and debating 
societies. Among others, some discussions with deistical freethinkers at 
Chatham Street Chapel are to be enumerated. If he ever came out 
without his banners, we knew it not. All this seemed to grow into the 
formation of a young men's society for mutual improvement in biblical 
knowledge, and for the conversion of the unconverted. Meetings were 
held for a considerable time in Allen Street, and finally became the 
"Second Christian Church," with Elder J. N. Spoor, pastor. 

When the subject of denominational choice forced itself on Summer- 
bell's attention, however, the traditions of the family, the lessons taught 
Nicholas by his beloved mother who ever revered the memory of his 
father and taught Nicholas his goodness of character, and probably more 
worldly motives ( who can tell ? ), influenced Nicholas powerfully to the 
church of his father. By the Methodists he was welcomed with the 
kindest cordiality. The memory of the older Summerbell was yet pre- 
served ; he was remembered not so much for ability as for sweetness of 
spirit and purity of character, so that the young convert found his way 
easy to the confidence of the Methodist congregation. He was helped 
much by his own beauty of person, by his brilliant conversation, by his 
fervid zeal, and by his ability in exhortation. Of high social qualities, 
he won his way into the hearts of the Methodist brethren, and they 
formed plans for his usefulness in the church, to which he opposed no 
hindrance. 

Thus the future seemed to the young convert to be opening with 
bright hope. There was no cloud in his sky. What made the matter 



14 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

more pleasant to him was the fact that his Christian brethren, though 
they were aware of his fraternizing with the Methodists, ever had a 
smile and hand-shake for him, as their convert that was unable to tear 
himself wholly from the society of those amoug whom he had found his 
Savior. He found no chagrin or malice in their hearts. 

But the situation was not logical, and, really, could not continue. 

In those days the Christians preached much on doctrine. They had 
not found out that a vigorous Christianity is without dogma. With a 
charity as broad as the name Christian, they had a regard for biblical 
truth that led them to attack, though in a kind spirit generally, error 
wherever they found it. Among the doctrines which they generally 
criticised was the trinity. Their assaults upon it were strong forces in 
their revival meetings. It was with direct reference to this doctrine 
that Elder Isaac N. Walter had exclaimed, " My Savior is the Son of 
God !" His Savior was not "the humanity," not a "very man," but "the 
Son of God." The Christian preachers pointed out with the eloquence and 
directness of a pulpit yet in its childhood, that Jesus was the " only be- 
gotten Son of God ; " the sweetness of the doctrine made them loathe the 
verbal substitutes of the creed, about "three persons in the godhead;" 
and they were not feeble in their attacks on what they sometimes called 
"tri- theism," or "three-Gods" idolatry. Although the doctrinal utter- 
ances of the Christian preachers were mingled with sermons of spiritual 
warmth, that constantly won converts to the Savior for whose true 
dignity of nature they plead, saying that the trinity annihilated the 
"Son of God," leaving only God and a "very man," their revival zeal 
did not leave the converts blind to the doctrinal truths that were simul- 
taneously taught. The effect was that Nicholas Summerbell was 
disturbed doctrinally. Since the Methodists were much more numerous 
than the Christians, and since his own father had been a Methodist, 
and since his mother had impressed on his mind the immaculateness of 
his father, Nicholas assumed that he was right on the trinity. He felt 
moved to be its champion. 

He wrote an article for a Methodist periodical in defense of the 
doctrine, and sent it with much timidity in his own heart as to its 
acceptance. In due time, on opening the paper, he was astonished to 
find an editorial reference to " the article of our brilliant young brother," 
who was so rapidly becoming useful to the church, commending the 
article for its ability, and asking the special attention of the readers to 
it. Nicholas immediately sought his article, read it with eagerness, but 
was disappointed ; it did not seem as strong on reading it in print, as it 
had seemed in the writing. He thought it ought to be, and could be, 
improved. He immediately went to work to rewrite it. As he worked, 
he became more and more dissatisfied. He found out that arguments 
which he had honestly used were not sound. Feeling very much dis- 
pleased with himself for not writing what was more convincing in favor 
of the trinity, he ceased his efforts temporarily, and went to the Metho- 
dist pastor and directly asked him for "the arguments, texts, in favor of 
the trinity." The pastor quoted to him the passages usually mentioned 



DEFENDING THE TRINITY 1& 

as proving it ; but Summerbell stated that he had already examined 
those " texts," and they did not prove it, and he wanted the strong ones. 
In surprise his pastor told him there were no stronger. With dis- 
pleasure, Nicholas then went to a prominent Methodist minister, and in 
excitement related his experiences on the subject. The man was great, 
and quickly took the measure of the eager, excited, vehement young 
convert before him ; he made no effort to quote other Scriptures, but 
calmly told him that the church of the ages had settled it that the 
trinity was true ; that it was safer to trust the great theologians than to 
investigate these incomprehensible subjects for ourselves ; that thougn 
the doctrine was mysterious, the divines of the great denominations 
accepted and taught it as true, and it was in all the creeds ; that it was 
oetter to be with the great body of Christian people, who were probably 
right, than to allow ourselves to oppose them. When Summerbell 
strenuously asked for the Bible proofs, saying the doctrine must be re- 
vealed in the Bible, the great man skillfully turned the attention of the 
young man to the coming usefulness before him, if he accepted the doc- 
trine without asking too carefully the Bible proof. 

Then there rose in the mind of the young man a suspicion as to the 
disinterestedness of his adviser; and as he went on to point out how 
Summerbell would be compelled to struggle against the current if he 
asked too closely about the accepted doctrines of the church ; how he 
would make himself peculiar, or suspected of heresy, if he allowed it to 
be known that he believed that the doctrine needed stronger proof than 
that usually given, the young convert's suspicions deepened. The great 
preacher painted in attractive language the future usefulness before the 
young man, his probable elevation in the church, and the honors that 
would be his without any unusual effort, if he would go on in active 
service without making himself a judge, and simply be the advocate of 
propositions already settled by the consent of Christendom. 

These pictures, however, were held up before a young man in the 
very time when they would have little effect in that new zeal w T hich 
he naturally experienced for all that was high and noble. To 
appeal to the convert's ambition was useless. He hardly knew the 
feeling. He was on fire for truth and right. He had written his article 
in favor of the trinity because he thought the doctrine true and highly 
important; that it lay at the very foundation of the Christian religion. 
And now to hear appeals made, though veiled somewhat, to his selfish- 
ness, to him was no better than beating the air. He was not considering 
his own future success; that was of little moment; but he wanted sound 
argument for the trinity. He was an advocate of the doctrine, bad 
Written for it, believed it, and he w T as looking for stronger support for it, 
not for himself. 

Possibly with some disgust, he left the great man. He had failed, as 
well as the pastor. A new puzzle, perhaps, troubled him. Probably 
unconscious of the forces driving him, not knowing that the longing for 
doctrinal truth was now giving way to a longing for contact with Chris- 
tian sincerity, with what was a most glaring logical inconsistency, he 



16 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

went to a Christian minister for the argument for the trinity; he had 
often heard these men preach against the trinity, and to go to them 
for argument for the doctrine that they were denouncing was absurd. 
Summerbell said he wanted the " texts — the texts." 

The Christian minister smiled and simply replied that there were 
none. When Summerbell quoted the passages that had been used by 
the Methodist pastor whom he had first consulted, and some of which 
passages he himself had depended on before, the Christian preacher ( far 
better educated than the young conyert ) showed him mistranslations, 
forgery, misinterpretation, the detaching a text from its connection, and 
the many weaknesses which he charged on the defense of the doctrine. 

Then Summerbell, remembering the lesson of popularity he had just 
heard from the great Methodist, called attention to the vastness of the 
majority in favor of the doctrine; how it was settled; how it was 
stated in all the creeds; how so many good people and learned clergy- 
men taught it. 

Then the Christian preacher appealed to the history of the past; he 
told how the doctrine had been introduced into Christian centers out of 
pagan philosophy; how its advocates had been political managers; how 
they had secured the ear of Roman emperors ; how the emperors had 
forced it on a church at first unwilling to accept it ; how laws had been 
made in its favor; how persecutions of the most cruel description had 
been carried on to establish it, and how it had finally secured the control 
of the visible church, and how, in consequence, the Dark Ages had 
settled down on the religious world. He went on and told how all the 
carnal and secular influences had from that time been arrayed in favor 
of the doctrine, so that society, so that learning, so that law, were all 
unconsciously exerting influences in its favor. He declared that the 
unanimity of the Christian world was this kind of unanimity; that the 
vast majority of clergymen had neyer investigated the doctrine; they 
had simply accepted the dicta of their teachers, who had previously 
accepted the dicta of their teachers. 

He then went on to declare that many of the preachers that were 
supposed to believe the doctrine really did not believe it ; that they well 
knew that the doctrine was not true ; but some of them were silent, 
considering the doctrine not important, and knowing that if they re- 
vealed their doubts they would be cut off from usefulness, from winning 
men to Christ; that some did not believe the doctrine, but yet taught it 
solely because of their popularity ; that they were making their livings 
out of their ministry and were preaching for money. By this time, in 
his excitement, the preacher drew a strong picture of the hollowness of 
a clergy that would acquiesce in the teaching of a great doctrine that 
they doubted, simply for money. He impeached their moral character. 

This was going too far. It was contrary to the usual charity that 
young Summerbell had always witnessed among the Christians, in con- 
nection with their judgment of other followers of Jesus. While opposing 
what they considered dogmatic error, they were careful to acknowledge 
the moral uprightness of those whose errors they attacked. But here 



INVESTIGATING THE TRINITY 17 

was one of their preachers excitedly impugning the motives of many 
orthodox ministers. The yoimg convert did not observe that it was not 
the whole clergy that was so charged, only many of them, and he as- 
sumed triat the character of the whole body was impeached. 

He would not bear it. He was hot with wrath. He exclaimed that it 
was not true; that his father had been a good man; that his father had 
preached for the Methodist Church ; that, necessarily, he had believed 
and preached the trinity; that he would not have preached the doctrine 
if it had not been true, and if he had not believed it to be true. ( So 
deeply had his mother impressed her own love for her departed husband 
on the mind of her boy, where it took the form of reverence for the 
father, of whom he could only have had vague personal recollections of 
his own.) 

In a blaze of anger young Summerbell terminated the interview with 
the Christian preacher, declaring that "the trinity was true, and he 
ivould prove it. 11 

Thus all the preachers had failed with this sincere, loyal-hearted 
young convert; the Methodist pastor, by his intellectual iuability to 
cope with the difficulty ; the Methodist great man, by his sordidness and 
the appeal to Summerbell's selfishness; the Christian minister, by his 
attack on the orthodox character. 

Summerbell went home with only one purpose dominating him — to 
prove the trinity. On setting about his task he determined to search 
the Bible through and find the "texts" that men seemed unwilling to 
give him. He determined not to be diverted by any other work until 
this was done. The weather was warm. He took off his coat and began 
the reading of the Bible at its beginning. He read slowly and carefully. 
He studied, with the helps at his command, every passage that seemed 
to bear on the truth of the doctrine, for or against. Thus he went 
through the Bible, comparing Scripture with Scripture, reading carefully 
to the end. He seemed to work day and night. When he rose from 
the reading he had changed his views, and from that time to his death 
he was a firm opponent of the doctrine of the trinity. (In the last 
week of his life, he said to his wife, that if he had his life to live over 
again, he would spend it in "speaking and lecturing against the trinity: 
it annihilated God." ) During his investigation on the subject he had 
been so absorbed, and had confined himself to his task so closely that it 
was ever remembered by him that he had read the Bible through once 
without putting on his coat. In the whole time he had not left the 
house far enough to need it. 

It is probable that few preachers give the subject as thorough an 
investigation. 

In 1837 N. Summerbell revealed to Philetus Roberts that he intended 
to give up his business and enter the gospel ministry. 

It has been published that he preached his first sermon in New York 
City, in 1838. He was ordained at Little Compton, R. I., in 1839. His 
experiences were varied and many. In the beginning, as always in his 
ministry, there was much severe labor, with much hard study. He 



18 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

attended for a time a school called "Goward's College," on Broadway,, 
but later in life did not speak of the school with great respect. 

As bearing on the facts of his denominational choice, the following 
will be of interest, published in the Palladium of May 15, 1838 : 

From Brother Nicholas Summerbell to Elder I. N. Walter. 

Dear Pastor : As I did not know but a brief statement of the 
manner I embraced the Christian religion might be interesting to 
you and some others, I send the present communication. In the 
Christian Advocate and Journal for October 6, 1837, appeared 
some enquiries and remarks with reference to the first article of the 
Methodist discipline. As the enquirer appeared to be very anxious. 
to know how the doctrine of that creed could be reconciled to the 
Bible, etc., the editor of that respected paper attempted a defense 
(if it can be so called), but his effort, in my estimation, was complete 
failure. I therefore thought the doctrine could be established by 
Scripture authority, and there was no necessity for its being left thus 
mystified. And for the purpose of proving this article true, I at- 
tempted its defense, as it contained the doctrine held by my father. 
I labored for weeks, and submitted my production to trinitarians, 
who asserted the interrogatives were answered, the article defended, 
and the doctrine of the trinity substantiated. But I was not. 
satisfied, because in searching the Bible I found there was no author- 
ity in that book to support the argument. From that moment the- 
mist in which the Savior had been obscured from my eyes vanished 
like fog before the king of .day. I believed my Savior to be the 
divine Son of God. The Scriptures appeared to be thrice more beau- 
tiful. I saw in them no three-one God, no two-natured Savior, 
working, speaking, and acting, sometimes with one nature and at 
other times with another, according as it would best support the- 
mysteries of sectarian creeds. I felt a great desire to serve a divine 
Son, who proceeded forth and came forth from the holy Father. I 
visited the Christian Church, where I saw you pointing to a bleed- 
ing Savior, by God sanctified and sent into the world. I listened to- 
the sound of your voice with pleasure; it sounded as the gospel 
spoken by an ambassador of Christ. You said the Lord your God 
was one Lord (not two). I believed it, for it was the language of 
inspiration. I felt then, and, thank God, I continue to feel that the 
despised Christians are a people with whom I love to associate. And 
I hope the simple truth as it is in Jesus will soon spread far and 
wide, clear of the mysticisms of the dark ages — relics of heathen 
mythology — pagan philosophy and Platonism, in whatever shape it 
may appear, or by whatever ism or ite it may be called. 

New York City, March 12, 1838. 

The foregoing is the first article we find from him in the press. It 
will be observed that he does not state the circumstances in detail, but 



EARLY WRITING . 19 

rather gives a summary and impressions. Whether the article was sent 
in the first place to Elder Walter as a letter, or to the periodical, we do 
not know. 

He was all his life subject to what is commonly called absent-minded- 
ness, and yet, in an emergency, or crisis, he had wonderful self-control. 
One incident illustrates : 

He had a habit of reading at night after he would go to bed. Once he 
was tired and fell asleep without putting out his light. The bed took fire 
and the blaze awoke him. He jumped up, rolled the bed up to smother 
the fire, carried it down two flights of stairs and out of the back door, 
put the whole bundle into the cistern, and pushed it down into the 
water with a clothes-line prop that he found in the back yard. He thus 
saved his life and the house from burning, and no one knew anything 
about it until the next merning. 

The next article which we find from his pen is the following, in the 
Palladium of August 15, 1839: 

HUMAN WANTS. 

BY NICHOLAS SUMMBRBELL. 

Brother Marsh: "We are all made urj of wants," is an ex- 
pression frequently used and rife with meaning. Mere matter can- 
not think ; it has no wants. We hold communion with the world 
through the medium of our senses ; these, as fibers, form the active 
matter of which we exist, connect us with our relative matter, dis- 
pensed throughout creation. Thus we gravitate continually to our 
mother dust. Without these connecting links man would be per- 
fectly docile. Disconnected from all things of an earthly nature, 
fear would not drive him, love would not entice him ; nothing that 
the eye could see, or ear could hear, would cause a volition; the 
social fireside would be without a charm, and the cool zephyrs of a 
summer evening would possess nothing to invite him to his moon- 
light walks. Rid us of our wants and we are left immovable and 
stationary, unless moved by some outward or super-human propelling 
power. 

But those fibers will be severed by death, the vapors of earthly 
pleasures will cease at the grave; we shall then bid adieu to all 
sensual wants. One great desire, one glowing hope, will there have 
birth afresh, connected to its Maker by faith's silken fiber. The 
Christian's soul will swell with immortality, all wants will there be 
swallowed up in one ; there real enjoyment without fatigue ; antici- 
pation with possession close in its train — one continued stream of joy. 

How should we strive, even to the sacrifice of other inclinations, 
to cultivate that desire here, instead of lending all our powers to 
satiate the rest. Without it here, our lives are but a solemn tragedy 
of dark despair. This is the sunshine of our day, this the daybreak 
of our dreary night. Our judgment tells us we have a God ; reason 
connects us with our Maker. Oh, let that connection be cultivated 
till our justified souls, re-clothed with celestial bodies, awake in 
blazing day, greeted by heaven's smiling throng, a glittering host 
of immortal spirits, to see their Savior and enjoy his smiles. 

In the Christian Palladium of September 15, 1840, we find the 
following : 



20 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

A DIALOGUE. 

BY N. SUMMERBELL. 

Brother Marsh ; For the sake of truth I have been constrained 
to continue Mr. Campbell's discussions between the mother and 
daughter on the remission of sins, by referring it to one Simon, a 
Disciple mentioned in the eighth chapter of Acts, and a Christian. 
And as I have made choice of a person here to sustain Mr. C.'s side 
of the question, who was made a child of God (for I have spoken to 
some of the Disciple ministers on the subject, and they admitted his 
conversion to have been genuine according to their theory ; that is, 
he believed and was baptized), probably they will not charge me 
with misrepresenting them. 

Simon — Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my 
hands he may receive the Holy Ghost. 

Christian — Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter. 

Simon — Have I not believed and been baptized? 

Christian — That may all be, but thy heart is not right in the 
sight of God. 

Simo?i ( smiling ) — I see you are one of the heart-religion folks. 
Well, well, I have been mistaken in you; I thought you said we 
must be baptized for the remission of sins. 

Christian — Peter said to those who were crying, What shall we 
do ? " Repent and be baptized," well knowing that God was faithful 
and true to forgive them their sins upon their possessing that godly 
sorrow that worketh repentance not to be repented of, as had you 
read further you might have seen, for without blood there is no 
remission of sins, that baptism is not the applying for, but the 
answer of a good conscience; therefore he said in another place, 
"Repent and be converted" (made new creatures), that your sins 
may be blotted out when a time of refreshing comes from the pres- 
ence .of the Lord. I would further say, Read Paul and James on 
faith and baptism. 

Simon — The law was to go forth of Zion and the gospel from 
Jerusalem, and as Peter preached at Jerusalem, I don't care a fig for 
Paul or James, none but Peter tells us plainly what we shall do for 
the remission of sins. I have done it ! and so I know I am a child 
of God. 

Christian — But notwithstanding you had been baptized, Peter 
said you were in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. 

Simon — I don't believe all that Peter says, either; for he said we 
should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (if we complied with the 
requisitions c f the gospel), for the promise was to us and our chil- 
dren, and all that were afar off, even as many as the Lord should 
call. And I don't believe the Holy Ghost was to be given to our chil- 
dren, nor those that were afar off, nor to any but us. Besides, I be- 



CAMPBELLISM 21 

lieve there is but one door into the church, for good or bad, Jew or 
Gentile, and that door is baptism, and the Holy Ghost never operates 
out of the church. 

Christian — Then, truly, you don't believe either Peter or Christ, 
for Peter said the Holy Ghost fell on Cornelius with his relatives and 
friends, and God's thus accepting them was the reason he gave for 
having them baptized. And Jesus said the Comforter should re- 
prove the world of sin. But what is your opinion concerning a 
penitent's seeking the Lord? 

Simon— It is the language of Ashdod ; there is nothing required 
but to be baptized. 

Christian — But Paul sought the Lord by prayer, and was three 
days under conviction, when he saw a vision, and the Lord answered 
his prayer and he recovered his sight, was filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and was then baptized. 

Simon— Oh, well, that was an apostle's conversion. 

Christian — But Cornelius's was nearly the same. 

Simon — Oh, he was a good Gentile. 

Christian— But Paul told the Athenians to seek the Lord. 

Simon — Oh, they were bad, heathen Gentiles. 

Christian — Well, I expected they were good or bad, Jews or 
Gentiles, of course; but are we not commanded to pray for all 
men? 

Simon — Yes, but those prayers will not benefit the persons for 
whom we are praying, but ourselves. 

Christian — Is this praying in faith? Oh, hypocrisy! where is 
thy blush ? I pray to my Father to aid you, when I only do it that 
he may think I am sincere, admire my brotherly love, and give me 
what I am begging him to give you. Well might Peter say, "I per- 
ceive you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity." 

Simon— Well, now, just state what you think of the state of the 
sinner, his conversion, and evidence of his acceptance with God. 

Christian — God has made of one blood all nations, that they 
should seek him, and seek him eariy ; he has sent his spirit into the 
world to reprove sinners and comfort saints, but his spirit will not 
always strive with man. He that comes to God must believe (faith 
comes by hearing) that he is. 

Simon — Well, but when they come to God, does he not choose 
them through baptism ? 

Christian — We are chosen through sanctification of the Spirit 
and sprinkling of the blood of Christ; thus, having our hearts 
sprinkled from an evil conscience, we may have our bodies washed 
(not sprinkled) with pure water, giving the answer of a good con- 
science by baptism ; but first the law must be put into our hearts 
and written in our minds, then God will remember our iniquities no 
more. This is remission of sins. 



22 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Simon — But did not the apostles refer to their baptism to know 
whether they were the children of God, or whether they were in the 
church ? 

Christian — No, assuredly not; for if, as you say, the church was 
not set up till the day of Pentecost, and then the door was water- 
regeneration, or baptism, none of the apostles ever entered it but 
Paul. 

Simon — Then how did they know ? 

Christian— They had the Spirit of God bearing witness with their 
spirits that they were the children of God ; and I would say to you, 
You are now a Disciple; beware of false teachers, for some are 
always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 
Seek the Lord, and if you find him, rejoice in the name of Christ, 
suffer as a Christian, be called a Christian, and persuade men to be 
Christians, that you be not carnal, as those of Corinth. 

Simon — *Pray for me. 

Christian — Search the Scriptures. 

New York, August 9, 1840. 

His beginning to preach was in a somewhat peculiar manner. There 
were some changes in the matters of the church in New York, and 
another meeting was started on Allen street ; but there was no perma- 
nent pastor. One night when prayer-meeting closed, Deacon Stratton 
announced that Brother Nicholas Summerbell would preach for them 
next Sunday; but he objected. It was put to vote and carried that he 
must preach. That was the first time that he had ever been announced 
to preach a sermon, although he was active in church work. When 
Sunday came, he had engaged another preacher to fill the appointment ; 
but the people did not know it until they reached the church. When 
the minister had closed his sermon, Deacon Stratton announced again 
that Brother Nicholas Summerbell would preach the next Sunday. 

With reference to these incidents, E. Stratton, of Brooklyn, New 
York, long afterward published the following words in the Herald of 
Gospel Liberty of September 11, 1890, writing under date of August 24: 

On looking over the words of Sister Summerbell in the last Herald 
of Gospel Liberty, I thought I did one good deed ; namely, to move in 
church to recommend Nicholas Summerbell, or to ask or request said 
Nicholas Summerbell to improve his gift to preach the gospel. I then 
heard his first sermon about fifty years since, some time before Sister 
Summerbell knew him. He is gone. I am spared to live to be eighty 
years old this August 24.— E. Stratton, August 24. 

Not long after that he had an important meeting which he desired 
Elder Simon Clough to attend. He wrote to him that if he would 
come to New York on an exchange, he would fill Clough's appointments 
at Hope, New Jersey. This was Summerbell's first visit there. He 
preached in the old place of worship, from Rev. 22: 14. He was very 
young looking, but he preached an excellent sermon, so that some said, 
" Elder Clough could have done no better." 



EARLY MINISTRY 23 

At that time there was a Miss Euphemia Johnson Sutton there, very- 
active in church work. When she came that day with her friend to the 
church and saw Summerbell in the pulpit, she said : 

"Now we're going to have a poor preach; there's a boy got the 
book." 

Her friend teased her as they went home from church, saying she 
would yet marry that " boy." 

He came to Hope a second time to preach for Clough. But he did not 
speak in the village, but went out two miles into the country to preach 
the funeral sermon of one of the church members by the name of Jacob 
Freese, Deacon Isaac Freese's brother, who had died suddenly after 
Elder Clough had gone to New York. He preached some in Camptown, 
New Jersey, now Irvington, and other places, while studying in prep- 
aration for greater Bible work. 

In the Palladium of November 1, 1841, we read his communication, 
indicating that he was engaged in revival work at Lafayette, N. J. 

After this he went to New England and preached in various places, 
before and after his ordination. He passed through some hard experi- 
ences there, but the Lord blessed his ministry for good to the churches 
and people where he labored. 

We find by the Christian Palladium of March 15, 1841, that he was 
engaged then in a successful protracted meeting at Adamsville, R. L, in 
which denominational feelings were done away. 

Obituaries written from the same section indicate that he was in 
charge of gospel work there; also his expressed thanks for the assistance 
of other ministers in the revival. 

We also find from him an article on "Creeds," in the Palladium of 
January 15, 1841, written from Dartmouth, Mass., in which we find the 
following sentence : 

Who that has once trod the path of gospel liberty, or ranged un- 
pinioned the fields of divine grace — who that has soared in the 
spirit of freedom, like the eagle on the winds of the heavens, with his 
eye on the Sun of Righteousness, can stoop to the spirit of bondage 
and willingly be confined to the parrot's narrow cage, reiterating 
"pretty Poll" from year to year in the form of sermons squared by 
jangling creeds ? 

On one occasion he visited New Bedford, Mass., and went to Elder 
Morgridge's and "put up." At that time we had meetings in Fair 
Haven, across the Acushnet River from New Bedford. It was prayer- 
meeting night, and he went over to the meeting with Elder Morgridge. 
When the service was over they started home. When they came near 
the bridge, Elder Morgridge said to him, "We will take a little walk, 
for when that light is put out we can cross free." The toll was one cent. 
Summerbell considered it a poor lesson in economy. He thought the 
staying and walking in Fair Haven did not " pay," compared with the 
labor, the burning of candle in Mrs. Morgridge's house, and the con- 
sumption of shoe leather, as well as the wear and tear of honesty. He 



24 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

stayed two days and nights, more or less, with Elder Morgridge, and 
when he started away to fill some appointments, he asked the privilege 
of leaving his valise a few days, which was granted, (a little black valise 
which he had had made to carry in his hand, for he walked to most of 
his appointments). He came back in a few days to take his valise and 
go somewhere else, where he had sent an appointment. He asked the 
great man what his bill was, and the answer was, " Five dollars." 

Mrs. Morgridge said to her husband, " That is too much, for Brother 
Summerbell has only eaten a few meals here." 

But the Rev. Mr. Morgridge straightened up and said to his wife, 
"That is the custom. It is the custom when the baggage is left to 
charge for the full time that the baggage is left, your assertion notwith- 
standing, Mrs. Morgridge." 

Summerbell had not money enough, and had to ask him to wait a few 
days for his pay. He took his valise, went out in the city, hunted a 
tailor shop, went in and asked the foreman to give him a job, for he was 
in need of money. The tailor gave him a fine coat to make. He set 
down his valise, went to work, and when he got it finished the tailor 
was pleased with the work and paid him five dollars. He took the 
money and paid the Rev. Mr. Morgridge. He said that he felt very 
thankful then that he had learned the trade when a boy. 

His first settlement in New Jersey w^as with the churches of Branch- 
ville, Perry's Mills, and other places in Sussex County, where he labored 
hard, had good revivals, and gathered many into the churches. 

During this time the new church at Hope was built. He was invited 
to visit Elder Clougli at the dedication, and also to aid him in a pro- 
tracted meeting. The church was dedicated on Thursday, December 9, 
1841. Elder Summerbell read the Scriptures, Elder Vanostrand prayed,. 
Elder Clough preached the sermon, and then Elder Summerbell prayed 
and made remarks suitable to the services. He preached that night and 
Elder Vanostrand followed with a powerful exhortation. Some arose 
for prayers. This was the fatal night when his oldest brother, Joseph F. 
Summerbell, was drowned in the Croton River, New York, while trying 
to ford it in the darkness to get home to his family, a wife and three 
little girls. Elder Summerbell was summoned home to the sad, stricken 
ones the next day. 

After the funeral of his brother Joseph, he returned to his churches in 
Sussex County, New Jersey. His heart was often sad, but he could have 
a word of cheer for those who were more sad. His purse was often nearly 
empty, but there wo,uld always be a penny for those who were more 
needy. He was a constant student of his Bible. His Bible and gram- 
mar were in his pocket. Study, study, study, was constant with him 
while riding and even when walking to his appointments. He com- 
menced his writings for our papers early, which never ceased during hi& 
busy life. 

During his preaching in Sussex County he organized a church at 
Deckertown, and the following extracts from the minutes of the Deck- 
ertown church will illustrate the usages of that time : 



EARLY CHRISTIAN USAGES 25 

February 12, 1842. 
At a meeting held at the house of Abraham Emmaus, in the town- 
ship of Wantage, County of Sussex, New Jersey, for the purpose of 
acknowledging such Christians as might present themselves for the 
purpose, as a church of God, at 11 o'clock A. M., the meeting was 
opened by prayer and singing, when the meeting was addressed by 
Brothers Vanostrand and Summerbell, followed by Brother Scott, who 
also invited the candidates to "give a reason for their hope." When 
Brothers James Havens, Abraham Emmans, William J. Williams, 
Sisters Clarissa Emmans, Phoebe Ann Harden, Margaret Ann Christie, 
Hannah Emmans, Elizabeth Beemer, Rosannah Emmans, Jane Perry, 
and Brothers William Allen, Lewis C. Young, J. Gould, and Sister Efcsa 
Ann Williams declared what God had done for them, and choosing to 
be known by the name of Christ, and to be "called Christians," and 
choosing the Bible as their rule of faith and practice, and the Testament 
of Christ as a full and perfect discipline; and having fellowshiped each 
other as Christians, were acknowledged by Elder N. Summerbell as 
members of the church of God and as Christians, who also gave them 
the customary charge. The door was then declared to be duly opened 
for the reception of members according to the order of the New Testa- 
ment. Brother Vanostrand then gave a short address, and after prayer 
the meeting was dismissed with a benediction. 

Minutes of the Deckertown Church, February 13, 1842 : 

At a meeting preparatory to immersion, Brother Summerbell preached 
from the following words, "If thou belie vest with all thy heart thou 
mayest," (Acts 8: 37) when Catura Wells presented herself for church 
membership and baptism, and was received after giving a reason of her 
hope, and received the right hand of fellowship from Elder Summerbell. 
The congregation then proceeded down to the water, where the ordi- 
nance of baptism was administered to five believers. 

At a meeting held in the schoolhouse, five were taken into the 
church by Brother Summerbell. 

Minutes of the Deckertown Church, February 20, 1842: 

At a meeting preparatory to immersion, Brother Summerbell 
preached from the following words: "Repent ye therefore and be 
converted," etc. Acts 3:19. The congregation then proceeded down 
to the water, where the ordinance of baptism was administered to six 
believers. 

At a meeting held in the house of A. Emmans, February 26, 1842, 
Brother Summerbell took four into the church. 

According to the Palladium of April 1, 1842, he was engaged in re- 
vival work at Perry's Mills, New Jersey. At this time he was pastor of 
the church at Branch ville, which he resigned in favor of Rev. O. J. Wait. 

In May, 1842, he was received as a member of the New Jersey Con- 
ference. 

By the Palladium of July 1, 1842, we find he was baptizing at Hope, 
New Jersey, on May 7th, and talking of "measures preparatory to 
acknowledging a church." The church was organized on July 23. 

During this period of his life', for two weeks he was carrying on meet- 
ings at Branchville and Hope churches, points separated by twenty 
miles of travel. After preaching at night at one place, he would go 
that night on horseback to the neighborhood of the other place, to be 
there for the meeting in the forenoon, returning in the afternoon to be 



'26 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

at the first place for the meeting at night. Thus he traveled forty miles 
daily, besides attending two meetings. 

In this fortnight, on two nights he took supper at midnight at the 
house of Deacon Charles Wintermute, a point between the two places, 
six or seven miles from one of them. However, Elder C. W. Havens 
was helping him at one of these points. 

This was the winter that Elder Teel came through the country with 
his chart, lecturing for the Second Advent doctrine of 1843. He accused 
of infidelity all who did not accept his interpretation of Scripture and 
believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ at that time. 

Previous to the building of the new meeting house at Hope, the 
members had been received into church fellowship as a branch of the 
Johnsonburg Church. This course was followed with reference to the 
people at Cadington, now known as Vienna. The Spring Valley people, 
where there was a new meeting house not yet finished, were also 
considered members of the same church, constituting one church for 
one minister. Elder Simon Clough had labored very hard in protracted 
meetings all winter, and his health declining from heart disease, in the 
spring of 1842 he notified the church that he would have to relinquish 
labors as pastor, but would get a supply to serve out his year. 

The first of April, 1842, Elder Nicholas Summerbell went to take 
charge of the churches to fill out the year of Elder Clough. There had 
been good revivals and baptizing during the preceding winter. He was 
very earnest and entered fully into Elder Clough's work, which was 
very heavy for so young a minister, but he carried it along successfully. 

The day he preached in the morning at Johnsonsburg, he preached 
at Spring Valley in the afternoon, and generally returned to Johnson- 
burg to preach at night, over a hilly road for four or five miles. The 
day he preached at Hope in the morning, he preached at Cadington 
(Vienna) in the afternoon, and went back over the road to preach at Hope 
at night. This arrangement gave these churches preaching every other 
Sunday, and on the Sundays when they had no preaching the churches 
had prayer-meeting. They also had fellowship meeting every four 
weeks, on Saturday afternoon. During the week Elder Summerbell 
preached at different neighborhoods, sometimes in schoolhouses and 
sometimes in private houses. One regular appointment was at Sarepta, 
below Hope, on the way to Belvidere, and sometimes he preached at 
Bridgeville, in Warren County. 

Miss Sutton, afterward his "wife, started the first Christian Sunday 
school in Hope. Mr. Jacoba was superintendent, a member of the 
church and a great worker. The organization of Hope as a distinct 
church did not change the pastoral relation of the churches. They all 
remained under the care of one minister. 

During the time of his supplying for Elder Clough, tne churches 
elected Elder Summerbell pastor for the year commencing November 
1st, with the salary of ( $250 ) two hundred and fifty dollars. 

These were very difficult times to keep the churches solid on the 
foundation of the gospel, for almost all denominations were influenced 



GOFF AND ADVENTISM 27 

by the prevailing excitement of the day, called Millerism— the theory 
that the world would be burned up in the spring of 1843. It was a won- 
derfully fascinating doctrine to those who loved the Lord, from one 
point of view; that is, the Savior would forever be with them. But the 
other side was dreadful, that the wicked would then be burned up. 

Summerbell bought Miller's book and it turned him against the doc- 
trine. He gave the book to Teel, and it converted him to Millerism. . 

Elder Summerbell had protracted meetings at all his churches, and 
good revivals and baptizing, and this saved the congregations from 
going into the delusion. 

But even such great and good men as I. C. GofT and Austin Craig 
were at that time infected with the craze. However, the influence of 
Elder Summerbell was wholesome even with them. On one occasion he 
was driving along to one of his appointments, and as he passed by 
where Elder GofT was staying, he stopped in the roadway. Brother 
GofT approached, and they entered into conversation. Something was 
said about the future, about a date somewhat distant, with reference to 
the cause of religion, and Elder GofT made the remark that it would 
not be necessary to plan for that time, because the Lord was coming. 
Elder Summerbell responded that if the reasonings of the Adventists 
were true, he would not come then, for "according to their way of in- 
terpreting the Scriptures, Nebuchadnezzar had not completed his time. 
Nebuchadnezzar must be out at grass yet." 

Said Elder GofT, " How so ? » 

Summerbell carefully described to him the methods of reasoning of 
the Adventists, which would lead to the certain conclusion that tlje 
king was still eating grass like an ox. Goff was deeply impressed. 
Seeing this, Summerbell started his horse, drove rapidly off, leaving 
Elder GofT standing by the roadway. On reaching a distant point he 
happened to look back, and saw Goff standing where he had left him, 
with his head fallen forward, as if in a deep study. It is said that he 
manifested no enthusiasm for Millerism after that day. 

From his conversion Summerbell was a man of earnest prayer, be- 
lieving in its efficacy. He was faithful in visiting the sick. In the 
summer of 1842 one of the active members of his church was very low, 
and his life was despaired of. Summerbell was so earnest in his praying 
that the lady at whose house he was boarding said she could hear him 
in his room, during the night, supplicating God. His earnestness gave 
her hope that his prayer would be answered. The sick member re- 
covered. 

The real theological seminary which he attended was the preaching 
of the gospel itself, the study of the Scriptures, and the laboring for the 
conversion of sinners. His life work for the Master was a school for 
him. He wished his children and grandchildren, however, to procure 
classical education, knowing that there was no satisfactory substitute 
for it. 

One of these winters at Hope, New Jersey, during the services, there 
was to be baptism in the mill pond at that village. The snow was quite 



28 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

deep. At one of the baptizings, Mrs. Silverthorn, who had been converted 
and who had not been at the meeting the night before, did not know that 
there would be baptism, and had come without being prepared with any 
change of clothing. However, she went to the water with the other 
candidates. The ice had been cat away so as to baptize.* Afterward she 
rode home in the sleigh, four or five miles, in her wet garments, through 
the deep snow, and came back to meeting again that night. She ex- 
perienced no ill effect from the baptism. She had a child, a little baby, 
at home six weeks old, which her mother kept for her w T hile she at- 
tended the meetings. Elder Summerbell often spoke of this in after 
life, saying that "she had the faith that was once delivered to the 
saints." 

Perhaps about the middle of January, 1843, in accordance with an 
engagement which he had previously made with Elder William Lane, 
Elder Summerbell had to go to Plymouth, Pa., to help him hold a 
meeting. This was the ahurch of that eminent, good man and philan- 
thropist, Henderson Gaylord. There were no railroads then among the 
mountains, and all traveling was tedious. Elder Summerbell hired 
Elder C. W. Havens to fill his appointments while he was gone. The 
snow was deep, and it was a two days' journey then from Hope to 
Plymouth, over the Pokono mountain. He borrowed a sleigh that he 
might ride more comfortably than on horseback ; but while he was 
there there came a heavy rain and spoiled the sleighing, so that he had 
to leave the sleigh and his cloak and valise, and borrow a saddle. 
Putting his horse blanket under the saddle and wearing his overcoat, he 
came home on horseback over the mountain. The roads were bad. In 
some places there were snow banks, in some places bare ground ; but he 
had to come home to fill his engagements. The first day, as he was 
crossing the mountain, he became so cold that he got off his horse and 
ran to get warm, leading the horse. He soon heard something coming 
behind him, and stepped aside to let it pass. It proved to be a wood- 
man's sled, with two men in it ; and as they came up he asked to ride. 
They told him to jump in, and as he jumped in he saw his own horse 
blanket in their sled, and said to the men, "Oh! I am so glad you 
picked up my blanket. I had not missed it from under the saddle." 

One of the men turned to him and roughly said, " It is my own ; it is 
none of yours." 

They were large, rough-looking men, and Summerbell did not want to 
make them angry, but he did want his blanket. He began to ask them 
about the country and to tell them funny stories, and they soon got into 
a great good humor, and the same man that said that he owned the 
blanket turned to him and said : 

"Now, you thought -I would keep your blanket, didn't you? Why, I 
just said it was mine for fun." 

Elder Summerbell talked to them about the Bible. It pleased them. 
They came to the road to turn into the woods where they were going for 
wood, and stopped for him to get out, and told him to take his blanket; 
and he thanked them for the ride and finding his blanket, and they 



HIS MARRIAGE 29 

thanked him for his good advice, and they bade each other good-by and 
parted. 

On the 9th of February, 1843, he was married to Euphemia Johnson 
Sutton, the daughter of Captain Joseph and Christian Sutton. (Her 
father had been a captain under General George Washington. Captain 
Sutton bore to his death on his forehead the scar of a dreadful saber cut 
inflicted by a British dragoon.) They were married in the Christian 
meeting house in Hope by the Rev. Orin J. Wait, a Christian minister 
then preaching for the Christian Church at Branchville, and afterward 
president of Antioch College. Elder Summerbell's church work was 
always his first work. Even on the evening when he was married he 
went into the pulpit with Elder Wait, read the hymns and prayed. 
Then Rev. Mr. Wait preached an excellent sermon to a crowded audi- 
ence from the text in Luke 17:32, "Remember Lot's wife." At the 
close of the sermon, Elder Summerbell gave an exhortation, then came 
down from the pulpit and led Hiss Sutton forward, aud the marriage 
was solemnized. After singing and prayer, Elder Summerbell gave out 
his appointments and Elder Wait dismissed the congregation. After 
the congratulations were over, he went with his bride to his boarding 
place, Mr. Joseph Swayzey's. 

The next morning his brother, B. F. Summerbell, and Mr. George 
Gillett, who had come from New York City to see the marriage, re- 
turned to New York, and the bride and groom went with them over the 
mountain as far as Jacob Cummings's. On Saturday and Sunday Elder 
Summerbell went to fill his appointments, taking with him his wife ; 
returning to his boarding place, on Tuesday he had to start on horse- 
back over the mountain again to Plymouth, to bring his sleigh home 
while the snow lasted. It took him four days to go and come. 

Most of the time during the winter, he held meetings with the 
different churches, and much of the time his bride went with him, 
helping him in his meetings, the people desiring him to bring her 
because of the love they had for her whom they had known from child- 
hood. The beginnings of the union then formed, which lasted all 
through his life ( for when he died her loving arms were about his neck), 
are hinted at and indicated in the following lines, which he wrote years 
afterward, when on the vessel on his way to Europe, less than a year 
before his death. For he first saw r her among the people in the congre- 
gation, gathering money for the cause of religion : 

Over sea and land asunder, 

From my loved ones far away, 
Looking o'er my lif e with wonder 

At the long and rugged way, 
I remember one companion 

Who has journeyed, and again 
Would, were life yet to live over, 

Ever at my side remain. 



30 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

First in youth and grace I saw her. 

Nearly fifty years ago ; 
Beautiful in form and feature, 

But more beautiful to name 
As a Martha, true evangel, 

Writing down the givers' names, 
As the revelation angel, 

And as angel still remains. 

I remember, I remember, 

How with timid heart and voice, 
In the ides of that December 

She consented to my choice, 
As my bride to work for Jesus, 

Be the outcome loss or gain, 
As the heavenly Father sees us, 

Doth she in the work remain. 

Rugged was the path we traveled, 

Toiling hard to make it even ; 
She the skein of life unraveled, 

Making life a little heaven ; 
And still toiling now at even 

To do all that heaven ordains, 
As evangel sent from heaven, ( 

She my helper still remains. 

I remember as no other 

All her life of toil and pain, 
As the wife and loving mother, 

How she labored— not to gain 
For herself — (nor yet that other), 

Need I name the loved names ? 
Some have gone before the mother ; 

Loving mother still remains. 

I remember, I remember, 

Hope and Milford and the West, 
Cincinnati, Little Charley, 

Loving Mary gone to rest ; 
And as toils the loving mother, 

Heaven helps to ease the strains 
Following Jesus, and no other, 

As in youth she still remains. 

Shower blessings on that mother ; 

Give her, Lord, a home above. 
When the toils of life are over, 

Crown her with thy crown of love. 



CHURCH WORK 31 

May she in her home in heaven 

Sing with saints the blest refrain, 
Saved by Jesus, saved forever ; 

His I ever shall remain. 

Loving Charley, sweetest Mary, 

May she see in glory crowned ; 
None she loved be lost, but every 

One in Jesus' love abound ; 
Saved at last, and saved forever, 

By the Lamb for sinners slain ; 
She, the loving wife and mother, 

With all loved ones to remain. 

The names of Charley and Mary refer to the child, Charles Henry, 
which died in Cincinnati in 1850, and to Mary Matilda, the wife of 
Harpin L. Heath, who died at Merom, Indiana, in 1877. 

While others were disputing at this period concerning the second 
coming of Christ, the direction of Sumnierbell's energies may be dis- 
cerned from the following in the Palladium of November 1, 1843: 

AFFAIRS AT JOHNSONBURG AND HOPE, ETC. 

Hope, N. J., October 5, 1843. 

This circuit is again without a preacher. Contrary to the wishes 
of the brethren, I am constrained by duty to take my leave of them. 

It gives me consolation, however, to know that I leave the cause in 
a more prosperous condition than it has ever before presented on this 
circuit. The Lord has mightily blessed his people, and there have 
been extensive revivals the past two years. There are now four 
meeting houses on this circuit, three of them owned exclusively by 
the Christians ; two of them, substantial, well-finished stone edifices, 
stand as monuments to the untiring devotedness of Elder Clough. 
The congregations are all good, and measures are taken for several 
protracted meetings this fall and winter. One to commence at Hope 
the last Wednesday in November, and one at Johnsonburg the 
25 th of December. Two souls have been born into the kingdom 
within a few days past. 

May they obtain a pastor after God's own heart, is the prayer of 
their friend and brother, N. Summerbell. 

P. S. I commence a protracted meeting at Milford, N. J., to-night, 
after which I shall visit Brother Lauer at Carversville, where pro- 
tracted meeting will be commenced, the Lord willing, three weeks 
from to-night. * N. S. 

We do not find that he fell into the prevailing craze at all. 

Up to the time of his becoming pastor of the church at Milford, N. J., 
he had laid the foundations of the churches at Wantage and Perry's 
Mills, and had erected two churches while pastor at Hope. 

In the fall of 1843 he became pastor of the church at Milford, N. J., 
serving till in 1850. The invitation to that pastorate he spoke of in 
1878 as follows in an editorial in the Herald of Gospel Liberty: 



32 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Judge Duckworth was a very remarkable man, respected for his 
intelligence, business capacity, Christian character, and remarkable 
urbanity, hospitality, and benevolence. He has been a member of 
the Christian Church at Milford some fifty years, and was church 
clerk a great part of the time. In 1843 he and Captain Cooley came 
to my house at Hope, New Jersey (about thirty-five miles), in a 
buggy, to engage me to move to Milford. It is remarkable that both 
these men lived to be over ninety-three years of age. 

His labors were not confined to the Milford Church, but extended to 
frequent services at Frenchtown, Little York, Springtown, Finesville, 
and other places near Milford. 

He became a veteran church-builder. 

As illustrative of the vigor and spirit of the period, we reproduce 
here the hymn sung at the dedication of the Frenchtown Church : 

"THE CHURCH COMING UP OUT OF THE WILDERNESS." 
[Tune, "Scotland."] 

BY N. iJUMMERBELL. 

1. Come, sing with rejoicing, the church is a-coming 

Up out of the wilderness ; see her appear ! 
See how on the arm of her Savior she 's leaning. 
Rejoice, for the day of redemption is near. 

2. Long, long has she wandered, an outcast down- trodden ; 

While robb'd of her temples, they caused her to roam ; 
But now she 's returning, no longer forgotten, 
With songs of rejoicing we '11 welcome her home. 

3. Long shut from her altars, by Babylon's waters, 

She sat with her children, all wet with the dew, 
Till seated in power, fierce Babylon's daughters 
Drank goblets of blood from the Christians they slew. 

4. While she, the true mother, with sore lamentation, 

To see her poor children deceived and destroyed, 
Refused to be comforted for their destruction, 
But sought with deep sorrow the aid of her Lord. 

5. Still looking to Jesus, for whom persecuted, 

Still holding his precepts as jewels most dear — 
Insulted, derided, and misrepresented, 
The hate of the bigot, and hypocrite's fear — 

•6. Till mangled and bleeding, with railing they left her, 
Dressed in her apparel they claimed her Lord ; 
They prayed him to slay her, condemn and forsake her, 
And share their confusion and honor their word. 



LABOR AND ECONOMY 33 

7. But he sent his angels with heavenly cordials, 

Who quickly restored her and brought her relief, 
Arrayed her in beauty, adorned her with jewels, 
Gave comfort for sorrow and gladness for grief. 

8. Oh, why should we hate her ? the bride of our Savior, 

Lov'd by our Redeemer, and honored of God — 
Her precepts, her doctrine, her language, behavior, 
No human inventions but found in the Word. 

9. She 's clear as the light, and she 's fair as the morning, 

Than armies with banners more terrible far ; 
She 's clothed with the sun — to complete her adorning, 
In glory celestial — she 's crowned with the stars. 

10. Then sound a loud anthem. Ring out a bold chorus. 
From oldest to youngest, all join in the strain ; 
To the church we 're returning, which ever hath loved us, 
And oh ! may none ever forsake her again. 

In the summer of 1844 he took his sister, wife, and baby boy, Joseph 
James, up into Westchester County, New York, to visit his grand- 
parents on his father's side, who were living with their daughter, Mrs. 
Vail. This was his grandfather, Nicholas Summerbeil, for whom he 
was named, now aged and infirm, but rejoicing to see the fourth genera- 
tion of his name, his only great-grandson of the name Summerbeil* 

In the summer of 1845 hay was high and money scarce. Tommy 
Taylor told him if he would mow around his harvest field fences he 
would give him the grass to make hay. Summerbeil accepted the offer, 
and mowed and made the hay himself, then borrowed a truck wagon of 
Esquire Cooley, and brought his hay home six miles. 

He would often travel at night to save time. On one occasion he had 
been forty or nfty miles north, in New Jersey, and after preaching at 
night started home. After he had driven two or three miles he felt an 
unusually tired and sleepy feeling and could not keep awake. He 
fastened the lines to the dashboard of his buggy, to let the horse take 
his own course, and went to sleep. When he awoke, the horse had 
stopped at the top of a high hill. He had slept two or three miles and 
felt rested. Driving on, lie arrived at the house of his wife's mother, 
below Hope, was put to bed, and slept till he awoke, then ate breakfast 
and drove on to Milford in time to preach. 

On February 20, 1846, his second son, Charles Henry, was born, which 
the mother wished named Nicholas, for the father, but Miss Caroline 
Forman, a dear friend of the family, succeeded in giving his name. 

In the year 1846, in what was called the " swamps " of Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania, Summerbeil became acquainted with him who afterward 
became Rev. S. O. Calvin. The district of country was very rough, and 
many of the people were very wicked. The only denominations were 
the Lutheran, the German Reformed, and the Catholic. Summerbeil 



34 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

sent an appointment to preach at a schoolhouse. A Lutheran minister 
by the name of Miller, of undoubted learning and piety, mounted his 
horse and rode over the country warning the people not to come to 
church that night, for a heretic was to preach. The people, however, 
had never seen a live heretic ( they were not as numerous as they are 
now), and their curiosity was intensely excited to know what kind of 
an animal it might be. Accordingly, the schoolhouse was uncomfort- 
ably crowded; so badly crowded, in fact, and the pressure of the 
people on the outside was so great to get in, to get a sight of the heretic, 
that there was poorly suppressed confusion, and it was difficult to con- 
tinue the service. Accordingly Summerbell asked if there was a family 
present of the name Williams ; and on a person's replying tliat he was 
there, Summerbell said that he would go home with him that night. 
He dismissed the meeting, announcing an appointment to preach in two 
weeks. The sermon was thus closed in its middle. The next meeting 
was not so confused. 

At the second meeting, after preaching a powerful sermon against the 
wickedness of the people, he gave the invitation for all those who 
wished to leave a life of sin and live a life of prayer to rise to their feet. 
Ten rose. 

Naturally, a revival followed; but on the third appointment the 
preacher found the schoolhouse locked against him. He stood in his 
buggy and repeated Scripture, sang, prayed, and preached in the dark, 
the people standing around listening. 

Perhaps at the next meeting, the schoolhouse being locked, some 
seats had been fixed out of doors. But the ground was wet with snow 
and rain ; notwithstanding which, the people kneeled. 

At the complaint of the people, a meeting was called by the school 
directors at another schoolhouse to secure the opening of the Tinicum 
schoolhouse; but they decided that all the other ministers could use 
it but Summerbell, for he was a heretic. 

This encouraged the ruffians of the neighborhood, and.they said they 
would tar and feather him, or shoot him, if he did not stop coming 
there to preach. He told them to shoot, if they wanted to, for he 
would preach the gospel if they burned him at the stake. 

On one occasion when Summerbell went to this neighborhood, he 
rode in his vehicle there and hitched the horse in the bushes near by. 
But after the meeting had closed, and he started off, his rockaw T ay came 
down. The linch-pins had been taken out of the ends of the axles. 

At the next appointment he went on horseback; but his saddle-girth 
was cut. 

On the next appointment he went on foot, and stayed all night in the 
neighborhood. On starting for home the next morning he had to pass 
a certain place where a number of men were at work, road-making. As 
he approached, they formed in two files, one line on each side of the 
road, facing it. Summerbell passed between them. They all stood 
gazing at him, without uttering a word or making a gesture. After he 
had passed, a tremendous yell was raised by the crowd— a loud and pro- 



RELIGION OF THE " CATECHISING " KIND 35 

longed yell. On bearing it, Summerbell turned around in the road, 
stood facing the men, and simply looked at them, standing there like a 
statue. Presently they who had given the yell, dropped their heads and 
began to work. After they had all resumed their labor, Summerbell 
walked on. Nothing was said. 

The religious tone of some of the people in this neighborhood may be 
understood from the following conversation between Summerbell and a 
prominent citizen there: 

"Mr. Dillon, have you never thought of turning to Christ, giving 
yourself to the service of God?" 

" Oh ! " said Dillon, "you needn't talk to me. I don't want any more 
religion. I took it once, hard." 

"Religion! You surely do not mean that you are a Christian?" said 
Summerbell. 

"Yes, I do ; they caught me with dogs and made a Christian of me." 

"Caught you with dogs? " 

"Yes; I was bound out. In the agreement it was provided that I 
was to have so much schooling, so much clothing, and I was to be 
catechised by the parson, to be christened, and confirmed. I was cate- 
chised all right, but I did not know what the christening was, and was 
really afraid of it; I thought.it would hurt. When the day came that 
the parson was coming to christen us, before the time I slipped off to 
the woods, and when they called me to carry out the contract I couldn't 
be found. But they put the dogs on my track, caught me, brought me 
to the house, baptized me, and made a Christian of me. And I don't 
want any more of it." 

Near this place a stone meeting house was afterward built. A number 
of noble men were converted unto the Lord Jesus Christ, some of whom 
became prominent afterward, and useful in the service of God. 

On November 1, 1846, Samuel O. Calvin, of this neighborhood, in the 
midst of a cold rain, walked six miles to the Christian Church at Mil- 
ford, New Jersey, to be baptized. When he arrived at the church there 
was no one present but Mr. Summerbell. He went out in the storm and 
got some of the brethren to come, in order to have witnesses. C. D. 
Ruth and wife soon came in a wagon from the Pennsylvania neighbor- 
hood just referred to, to be baptized. The day was very windy, and 
the waves probably rolled as high as they were ever known on the 
Delaware, and the immersion of Mr. Calvin was by the incoming wave, 
which simply rolled over his body. 

The cleanliness of speech of Elder Summerbell, and his influence on 
converts and others in this regard, were illustrated by an incident 
mentioned by Mr. Calvin himself, who regards the rebuke as one that 
lasted during his life. He had the habit of saying, " The deuce they 
did." He said Summerbell looked at him as though he would look him 
through, and then said: 

"Some say, 'The ace of spades,' and some say, 'The deuce.' " 
Said Calvin, "Have I committed the unpardonable sin?" 
Summerbell said, "It is only a white way of swearing." 



36 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Surnmerbell assisted in the ordination of Austin Craig, at Peapack, 
New Jersey. Elder I. C. Goff preached the sermon from' Phil. 1:17, 
Summerbell gave the charge, C. W. Havens made the ordaining prayer. 
Moses Cummings was there also. In the sermon Elder Goff, in his 
impressive way, said, " Brother Austin, I desire that you may be so 
lilled with the power of the gospel that when preaching you may feel 
it from your fingers' ends to your heart.' ' Summerbell, in his charge, 
said, "My dear brother, I hope your heart maybe so filled with the 
power and truth of the gospel that it may flow out all through your life, 
even to your fingers' ends." 

N. Summerbell himself wrote of the occasion as follows: 

It was a blessed meeting. The father and mother were there, both 
happy, useful, able, and eminent Christians; and the two children, 
Austin and Emma, were models of beauty and Christian simplicity. 
Austin, though learned, was, as was natural with him, humble and un- 
assuming. Elder Goff preached a soul-stirring sermon on the inward 
spiritual nature of the gospel and its power to influence all our life; 
and Elder Havens seemed to bring us all up toward heaven in his 
prayer. 

The disregard of Austin Craig for the ordinary glitter of life will 
appear from a little thing that we havQ heard X. Summerbell relate 
about him. On the morning of his ordination, instead of blacking his 
boots, he greased them with tallow, and the streaks of wmite grease 
were visible on them in the pulpit. It was the same spirit that caused 
him to decline his diploma on completing his college course, saying he 
did not care for a "sheepskin." 

The ordination was referred to in the Palladium of December 16, 1846. 

The Milford Church owned a large tent, or canopy, which was used 
under which to hold meetings in summer in places where there were no 
meeting houses. 

In the summer of 1846, perhaps, the people of Amwell borrowed the 
tent for four days' meeting. Until this time Summerbell had always 
had perfect health; never, as he stated afterward, having even had a 
cold. 

The meeting at Amwell probably began on Friday night. On Satur- 
day night, while he was preaching, a sudden, heavy thunder storm 
came up, and he dismissed the meeting at once, that the people might 
go home before the rain commenced. As he himself was starting for 
home, a Mr. Wagoner called to him to take an old lady into his buggy 
with him to ride to her home. Before Summerbell could disengage 
himself from the crowd of vehicles, Wagoner called to him to take his 
wife, also. The delay detained him, so that the crowd got ahead, and 
he was compelled to sit exposed to the storm, which soon came. Before 
he got the women to their homes he was thoroughly wet. He had been 
very warm in preaching. The night was dark, and driving was 
done by the flashes of lightning. A part of the way there was some 
dangerous "dug road" to travel. The team immediately following 
Summerbell upset. It was necessary, a part of the time, to stop until 



FIRST lt COLD" 37 

the shower passed. All the time Summerbell was in his drenched 
clothing, and only got home, a distance of eight miles, just at daybreak. 
He had a hoarseness and sore throat, so that . he could scarcely speak. 
He took a warm bath, put on warm clothes, drank a bowl of red 
pepper tea, fell into a sweat, and his throat felt relief. 

He ate some breakfast, went back to the meeting, preached three 
times that Sunday. The meeting lasted till Tuesday, and there were 
some conversions. 

That Sunday was the first time his throat ever troubled him in preach- 
ing. Often 'in after life he would refer to it, and say that if the gentle- 
man had taken his women home he could have been protected under 
his cover and apron, and would have saved all his life-suffering. His 
constant labors kept his throat irritated and his voice hoarse. He 
would preach with his throat wrapped up in a blister. One time he had 
announced to baptize the next Sunday, but his hoarseness became so 
bad that he could not preach, and Joseph G. Lawshe and Jacob Y. 
Mellick conducted the services in the church ; but Summerbell got up 
out of bed, with a sore blister on his neck and running sores on his chest 
from having been cupped, to keep the inflammation from his lungs 
(according to the severe treatment of those times), and went into the 
Delaware River and baptized a number of converts. It made him no 
worse, though this case was in winter. 

He offered his resignation to the church, but they would not accept it, 
saying he was well when he came to the church, and he must stay 
until he got well ; he could keep charge and get supplies when he was 
not able to preach. 

In the early winter of 1847 his throat got worse, he became nervously 
prostrated, and was confined to the house under the medical treatment 
of Dr. Taylor, the village physician. 

He grew worse, and Dr. Taylor told him his case was serious, for 
there would have to be an operation on the ulcers in the throat. He 
could not do it, but if Summerbell would name any doctor that he 
would like to have, he (Dr. Taylor) would bring him at his own ex- 
pense and trouble. 

Summerbell said, " No, doctor, I don't want the responsibility divided. 
If you can't help me, I suppose there is no help for me." 

The doctor said, "Yes, Mr. Summerbell, there is help for you. Don't 
be discouraged. Dr. Green, in New York, I think, can cure you, or at 
least can help you, so that you can preach again. He has made dis- 
eases of the throat and windpipe a specialty, and has traveled and 
studied in the hospitals in Europe. He has an office in New York, 
where he is treating cases successfully, but would not come out here. 
All his patients have to go to his office. I think with prudent care you 
can be taken to New York without injury. I will write to him and 
acquaint him with your circumstances, and I think I can get him to be 
moderate in his charges." Those were sorrowful times with Mrs. 
Summerbell. He could not speak a loud word, and only swallow liquid 
food. There was little money, salary low, and she would have to go 



38 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

with him to take care of him, with two small children. He had been 
confined to his room for weeks, and was so nervous that the doctor 
would not allow him to see his friends who called. We were thirty 
miles from Somerville, the nearest point on the only railroad to New 
York. 

There was no time to lose. The members of the church and friends 
were very kind in helping, him to get ready. Mordecai Thomas, a 
member of the Friends' Society, who lived across the street, took him 
out in his carriage to ride a short distance for a number of days, to 
accustom him to the air and jar of the wagon. He wrote, engaging 
board with his mother and sister, on Orchard Street, New York. 

The day before he left home, friends came to say farewell, some not 
expecting to see him again in life. It was near Christmas. He had to 
start in the night, to take the early train to New York, to arrive before 
dark. Robert Williams, of Frenchtown, sent his large conveyance, so 
arranged that he could lie down. Mr. Slocum drove the team, and 
took care of him on the journey. Another conveyance took wife, chil- 
dren, and baggage. He arrived in New York safely, rested two nights 
and one day; then Dr. Oatman, an acquaintance and physician in the 
family, came with his carriage, took him to Dr. Green's office, and the 
operation was performed. Dr. Green cut three pieces out of the throat, 
and swabbed it with nitrate of silver. The suffering was great. Dr. 
Green pressed a sponge, saturated w T ith the nitrate of silver, down into 
the windpipe below the epiglottis. He also treated him for nervous 
debility. The doctor applied the treatment of the nitrate of silver 
every morning for eight weeks. For six weeks Summerbell was not 
able to speak above a whisper. The doctor called it burning out the old 
ulcers. The voice returned, and at the end of eight weeks Summerbell 
returned and took charge of his pulpit. The doctor had given him ad- 
vice about how to treat his throat himself; but one sore did not heal 
well, and in the summer of 1848 he went back to Dr. Green, and another 
piece was cut out, with treatment similar to that before, except that 
Summerbell's condition was not nearly so serious. After that he went 
on with his church work as usual. 

Of the bigotry of those times a little incident is illustrative: 

An Episcopal clergyman, of Hope, New Jersey, was also a patient of 
Dr. Green. One day when Summerbell entered the office, Dr. Green 
said: 

"Mr. Summerbell, your friend that you talked with yesterday, said I 
was doing very wrong in curing your throat so that you could preach, 
for you preach false doctrine, and are doing much harm by leading the 
people astray." 

Summerbell replied, " Doctor, you go on and cure Mr. More as soon as 
you can, and I will go his security that he will never do the people any 
good or harm by his preaching." 

The doctor agreed. 

In one sense he recovered his health under the treatment of Dr. 
Green, but his throat was always tender in the extreme, and gave him 



ATONEMENT, JUSTIFICATION, ETC 39 

suffering all his life, whenever he would take cold. The sensation of 
the perfect closing of the throat after swallowing he never experienced 
after the operations to which he was subjected. 

The following appeared in the Herald: 

ATONEMENT, JUSTIFICATION, ETC 

BY ELDER N. SUMMERBELL. 

Brother Morrison: In the Herald, No. 49, I notice an article 
from your pen which I desire you may reconsider ; not because the 
sentiments you there advance are unpopular, but because they are 
founded, I think, upon a misconception of the faith of those who 
differ with you. 

I suppose that such a reconsideration will be agreeable to you, as 
you say that you are "glad the subject has come up," and "would 
like to see it discussed." 

I understand you to believe that Christ died in our stead, also in 
original sin and natural depravity, according to the sectarian rules 
of the day — inasmuch as you use their phraseology to express your 
faith on those points — to all of which I object. That is, I believe 
that Christ died for us, but not as a substitute. I believe in sin — the 
universal depravity of unregenerate man — but not in borrowed sin ; 
not in the total depravity of our nature ; not in infant depravity. 

You ask, ' k If the mere teachings of Jesus are capable of saving 
us without faith," that Jesus died in our stead, "why may we not as 
well be justified by the deeds of the law ? " I am very sorry that 
you asked such a question. 1st. To seek to be justified by the law 
now, would virtually be to reject the gospel, to reject the teachings of 
Jesus — reject the government of God — reject Jesus himself; in short, 
reject light and close in with the darkness of infidelity. You think 
that the teachings of Jfoses tvere not defective; that is, that they 
were as good as Christ's. But this is a great mistake, as you will 
see by reading Matt. 5 : 18-48, as well as many other places. 

You say truly, "The sinner has forfeited his fife." He has, both 
for time and eternity, and must pay the forfeit by dying a temporal 
death here, and the second death hereafter, except he repents. None 
will, none can die in his stead. If they have, God will not demand 
the forfeit twice, and hence the sinner is out of danger. 

"God has said, the soid that sinneth, it shall die; how then, you 
ask, can God be just and the justifier of the sinner that believeth in 
Jesus?" The next verse (Ezefc 18: 20, 21) would have answered 
your question by informing you that if the wicked will turn from all 
his sins, and keep God's statutes, he shall surely live, he shall not 
die. But you ask how can God be just, and yet forgive the sinner ? 
Because the sinner is turned to righteousness ; has obeyed the form 
of doctrine delivered; has put on Christ by receiving, obeying, 
practicing Christ's righteousness, declared for the remission of sins 
through faith in his blood. Rom. 3 : 26. 

You ask many questions, such as, How are we made nigh, pur- 
chased, justified, etc. , by the blood of Christ ? All such questions 
are answered by the simple words, ^^P by being converted from sin 
to righteousness. This is the way, and the only way, that God ever 
did, or ever will save anybody. Christ's blood, death, etc., were all 
means to that great end. 



40 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

There is a radical defect in the teachings of those who oppose 
justification through faith and works combined, which is this : They 
suppose that those who connect works with faith, trust something 
else for salvation besides Christ. But that if we deny works, and 
trust alone in faith, we then look alone to Jesus. But, dear brother, 
the man who teaches salvation by faith only, bases his hope as cer- 
tainly on an act of the creature ; as faith is an act of the creature. 
The truth is, the primary cause of our salvation lies neither in faith 
nor works, but in God. It is grace ; free, unmerited, unbought, un- 
sold grace ; not of work, either by man or a substitute. The means 
employed by God are embodied in Christ. The means employed by 
man are faith and toorks. Our help to sanctification, the Spirit; 
the end of that sanctification, obedience, which will form the only 
ground of our acceptance in the great day. 

P. S. If I have misunderstood your position, please correct me. 

MliiFORD, N. J., March, 1847. 

In 1847 he was appointed, with Rev. E. G. Holland and Eev. B. S. 
Fanton, by the General Book Association, to correspond with J. Barker, 
of England, and Rouge, of Germany. Some of this correspondence 
may be found in the Christian Palladium, of June 12, 1847. 

In the Christian Palladium of June 26, 1847, appeared the following : 

(For the Christian Palladium.) 
In the Harbinger, No. 5, page 258, Mr. Campbell, in speaking on 
Christian union, uses the following extraordinary language : 

Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia, the author of the Declaration of In de- 
pendence, was a Christian of this school, according to the Christian 
Palladium, of New York. Indeed, I have long thought that any form 
of religion that does not recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the only Be- 
gotten Son of God, as the everlasting word incarnate, or the word that 
was God, and that became flesh, and his death as an atoning sacrifice, 
an expiation or sin-offering, is neither more nor less than simple deism. 
But if any one doubt my conclusion, I invite his attention to an 
authority equivalent to that of the Christian Conference of Pennsyl- 
vania. It is the Christian Palladium, the oracle of the Christian Con- 
ference of New York, edited by J. Hazen and J. Ross, with an executive 
committee of the twelve New York apostles of Christian union on 
Elder Harvey's basis. The following document is commended by N. 
Summerbell, one of the twelve: "The Religious Views of Thomas 
Jefferson," by N. Summerbell. (I omit to insert the article, but com- 
mend it again to the reader's careful perusal. It may be seen in the 
Christian Palladium of March last.) (Mr. C. then says:) 

"Well done, good and faithful servant;" Mr. Summerbell, thou 
reasonest well, " Thomas Jefferson was a Unitarian," and you will pray 
that, live as they may, every young American may die a Unitarian. 

This is a short article, but its errors are many ; a few of them 
calculated to exert a bad influence, I will rectify : 

1. The executive committee are not "the twelve New York 
apostles, " and I fear that clerical wit is badly displayed in the allusion. 

2. The committee are not in favor of "Christian union on 
Elder Harvey's basis ! " 

3. The Palladium is not "the oracle of the New York Con- 
ference. " 



ALEXANDER CAMPBELL 41 

U I never prayed that every young American, live as he might, 
might die a Unitarian. I never saw or heard tell of such a prayer, 
until I saw it in the Harbinger. Yet, I candidly avow that I am 
much better pleased that such a man as Thomas Jefferson should 
avow his belief in the Bible, etc., even on Unitarian principles, than 
that he should be a professed disbeliever. But I never assumed that 
he was a Christian, or converted man. But such men as Jefferson, 
Newton, Milton, Locke, and Watts, will avow then- convictions 
against the trinity, however disagreeable it may be to Mr. C. They 
seem not to have the fear of priests before their eyes. 

But it appears that all who do not avow Mr. C."s creed respecting 
the number of persons in the divhie nature are deists. All who do 
not hold a vicarious atonement are deists. According to Mr. C. 
Barton W. Stone was a deist. For Mr. Stone wrote against Mr. 
C.'s views on both these subjects. Yet Mr. C. and Barton W. 
Stone were in full communion together. That is, Mr. C. communed 
with a man whom he believed to be a deist. In short, one-half of 
Mr. C.'s followers are deists, according to his learned definition of 
the term. Yea. Mr. C. himself, notwithstanding his seeming repug- 
nance out of his church, has no more objections to receiving and 
communing with such deists, providing they will join his church, 
than he has to receiving Urhversalists. both of whom can find shelter 
among the multitude in his "ark," as you will perceive by the fol- 
lowing extracts from his own papers : 

Many Unitarians acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. in a 
sense of their own. How do you know that they have a sense of their 
own? By their words. Are they Bible words?" If they are, we can- 
not reject them. ... If a man professing Universalis! opinions should 
apply for admission, we will receive him, if he will consent to use and 
apply all the Bible phrases, etc. Let him have it Universalism as his 
private opinion. The question, for example, Would you Feceive a Uni- 
versalist? a Unitarian? Not as such. We ask the question. Do you 
believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God? If any 
man cordially respond, " Yes," we believe him. Campbell and Rice, 
pages 804, 805, 811. ) 

Why, exclaims the reader, Mr. C. is very liberal ; he wotdd have 
received Mr. Jefferson and all the Unitarians, providing they would 
be gagged, act the hypocrite, and appear outwardly as if they were 
orthodox. . . . Aye. gentle reader, you are much mistaken if you 
think Mr. C. is so very particular, even on that point, as you will 
see by the following extracts from his own papers : 

" At the Mahoning Association, about five months after my im- 
mersion," said Mr. Raines, a Universalis preacher, "I was publicly ques- 
tioned relative to my sentiments, and I did not hesitate to declare to the 
whole congregation that it was still my opinion that all men would 
finally become holy and happy." Harbinger, Vol. I., page 390. 

Barton W. Stone says. ''The Word by whom all things were made 
was not the oulv true God, not from eternity.'' Christian Baptist, page 
379. 



42 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Thus, you see, Mr. C. can fellowship both Universalists and 
Unitarians, as he declares, but "not as such.' 1 Mark, he will not 
receive them as such, for as such they are "simply deists;" but he 
will receive them, fellowship them, ' 'sit weekly around our Lord's 
table" with them, commune with them, argue with them in his 
papers, but they must keep their opposition to his sentiments private ; 
private, for it is deism ; private, to be sure, by publishing a paper for 
the express purpose of advocating them, as did B. W. Stone. Yes, 
private in the public newspapers, for Mr. C. says it is " simply deism, 
no matter whether baptized in a crystal font or sprinkled with 
Castilian dew from a golden basin." 

Perhaps there is not a more interesting individual living in the 
present day than Alexander Campbell ; not only as " a wise man that 
came from the east, " but a very extraordinary man, as demonstrated 
by the many peculiarities in his character — or, perhaps I had better 
said, the many different characters which he has at times assumed. 
Elder Clough, than whom few understood the windings of the 
human heart better, thus describes him : 

His mind is so metaphysical, his style so obtrusive, and he has such 
a command of words, and pours forth such a torrent of them, that the- 
reader often finds himself inundated with words; but sometimes finds 
it difficult to perceive the true idea intended to be conveyed. Thus 
always Mr. C. rebuts the most logical argument by merely saying, " I am 
misapprehended; " but when he restates his position and his arguments, 
the reader labors under the same difficulty as at first, arising from the 
circumlocution and verbosity of his style. 

No man, perhaps, has ever lived who could assume so many shapes, 
occupy so many positions, defend so many sentiments at war with 
what he had formerly and still continued to advocate, now asserting 
and anon denying, now proving and anon disputing, saying and gain- 
saying, reforming and transforming, and still maintain his stand at 
the head of the same people. Probably, however, his success with 
his people arises from the fact that his church ( to use a figure of his 
own) is like "Noah's ark," the receptacle alike of every kind. He 
says: 

We receive men of all denominations under heaven, Romanists, 
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Restorationists, 
Quakers, Arians, Unitarians, etc. We have one faith, one Lord, one 
baptism, but various • opinions ; all those persons, of so many and so 
contradictory opinions, weekly meet around our Lord's table. Camp- 
bell and Rice, pages 784 and 785. 

So that let Mr. C. advocate what sentiment he will, of all the 
"isms" and "ites" in the world, Trinitarian or Unitarian, Christian 
or deist, high or low, when he sits down to "our Lord's table" he 
will, among the latitudinarians of strange opinions there assembled 
meet with some who will advocate his last propagated ideas. Whilst 



VALENTINE 4:3 

the pleasing idea of being reformers, and a determined hostility to 
creeds are bonds that unite them to the leader, who, whether his 
back or face be toward the dark ages, is still ever foremost in their 
defence.. N. Summerbell. 

Thus Campbell was rebuked for his coarse and unmanly attack. 

In the 1848 treatment his wife was not with him in New York, and 
we find the following, written to her in February: 

The folks are sending valentines to their friends. It makes me feel 
homesick, so I send these lines to you : 

Once, one saw and loved you, 

Years, years ago; 
Loved religion shining in you — 

Whether you, or no ; — 
Loved you for the beaming eye, 

Years, years ago ; 
Loved the lovely form and features, 

Whether you, or no. 

You personified religion — 

Whether you, or no ; 
But I sought, and soon obtained you, 

Present now or no. 
Well, oh, well do I remember, 

Years, years ago, 
Sleigh-ride, fire, orange, water; 

Do you now, or no ? 

Love the same does still continue 

Now as years ago ; 
Love for you, or for religion : 

Is it you, or no? 
Whether two, or one, I love you 

Now, as years ago; 
Loving you, I love the Savior, 

Whether two, or no. 

Kiss the boj-s for one who loves you, 

Charley and Jo- 
seph. Both the boys they love you, 

Whether two or no. 
In all may true religion 

Beauteously glow, 
Bright, transparent, deep, celestial, 

While we live below. 

Nicholas Summerbell. 

New York, February 5, 1848. 



44 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

He was ingenious with his hands, and thereby eked out his small 
salary by many kinds of work for himself and family, from transform- 
ing his buggy-top into a "rockaway " carriage bed, to making shoes for 
his child Joseph. He made his carriage impenetrable to storm, which 
was needed; for he always went to his appointments absolutely without 
regard to the weather. 

During these years he wrote many sermons and much for the press, 
studying hard and late at night. 

The salary being small, the church members and friends were ex- 
ceedingly generous, bringing to the family provisions, clothing, and 
gifts of various kinds; not on a set day, a "donation" day, but as any 
individual was moved. These gifts were coming in all the year, and 
were prudently cared for by his wife, so that he prospered financially. 

Two of the families of the deepest friendship were the Duckworths 
and Formans. Of the latter family Miss Caroline Forman should be 
specially mentioned. Her faithfulness to the church, her generosity to 
the cause, her appreciation of Summerbell's preaching, and devoted 
friendship to the family continued till long after he was called to a 
better world. Her friendship followed the family in all its migrations, 
and when his son in early life took charge of the Milford church as 
pastor, her support and sympathy were invaluable in enabling him to be 
useful in his ministry. " Aunt Caroline," by natural endowments,- and 
to a considerable degree by acquired culture, was fitted to adorn any 
social circle. But religion was her life, and all her interests were 
gathered around the cause, in whatever form it was presented to her. 
Her ministrations, with those of her sister, "Aunt Anna,' 7 entitled her 
to be classed with the persons of whom Paul speaks, "Help those 
women." The whole church w^as helpful, affectionate, and faithful, but 
"Aunt Caroline" was always of phenomenal devotion to the pastor. 
But it all came from her devotion to Jesus and to truth. 

Suuimerbell's salary was raised from $250 a year to $300, and this 
enabled him to lay up more than formerly, and in the spring of 1849 he 
bought a lot of a few acres, with a small stone house on it, just outside 
of Milford, and moved into it. He paid $600 for the place, borrowing 
$400 at 6 per cent, interest of Deacon Duckworth, one of the stalwart 
pillars of the church, to pay on it. He raised much of his own living 
and had something to sell. 

In the summer he was .holding a protracted meeting with Elder 
Rodenbaugh at Gulf Mills, Pennsylvania, when a singular incident took 
place. 

As the congregation was gathering, Sumrnerbell was sitting in front of 
the pulpit, when an aged lady came in, walked straight to him and said: 

" How do you do, Brother Summerbell? I knew you as soon as I saw 
you, for you write so much about the Son of God." 

The circumstance is remarkable, for it is said that the woman had 
never seen him, had never seen his likeness, and did not know that he 
was there. 

In the winter of 1849-1850, Elder Rodenbaugh helped in protracted 



LEAVING MILFORD 45 

meeting at Miifora. He preached his first sermon at 4 a.m., Christmas 
morning, and at 11 a.m. the Sunday school gave an entertainment, in 
which Summerbell's son, J. J., a little less than six years old, gave his 
first address in public. Preaching again at night. On the eve of New 
Year's Day, Elder Rodenbaugh began his sermon at 11 : 30 p.m., and 
closed with the opening of 1850. 

Summerbell was now anxious to go west, to engage in missionary 
work, without dependence on any church or organization. ' He knew 
that severing the ties at Milford would be painful on account of the 
deep affection formed between him and the people; but after mature 
reflection he offered his positive resignation, to take effect April 1, 1850. 

This determination of Summerbell excited many, and there rose talk 
of founding a Christian colony in the west, and Delevan, Wisconsin, 
was settled on as the point. C. D. Ruth, of Tinicum, Pennsylvania, and 
Charles Fitzer, of Frenchtown, New Jersey, blacksmiths, and S. O. 
Calvin, of Tinicum, a mason, determined to go, and did so. 

In the early spring of 1850, Elder I. C. Goff came from Camptown 
(now Irvington ), New Jersey, to make a visit and to preach on Sunday. 
His subject was founded on Ruth 1:21,22. After describing Naomi's 
trials, he turned to Summerbell and said : " Naomi left her own country 
and people to get bread ; went out full, but came back empty. Brother 
Summerbell, there is no famine here, and we don't want you to go. 
But when you get into a strange country, with a strange people, and 
lose all you have, and perhaps sickness and death enter your family, 
then send us word and we will send and bring you back." 

This sermon was never forgotten, for in five months after settling with 
strangers, little black-eyed Charley died. 

Summerbell's writings had accumulated so that he felt that it would 
be burdensome to move them, though he had thought of publishing 
them. He sat down and sorted and burned writings all of one day and 
most of the night. Thus went to ashes much of the results of the hard 
study of his early ministry. 

He said the gospel had to be preached to suit the needs of the people 
where preached, and written sermons did not convert sinners. He could 
write more sermons than he would have money to print. 

During his ministry at Milford, he erected church buildings at French- 
town, Tinicum, and Little York. 

After his boxes were packed and marked for Delevan, Wisconsin, a 
letter came from L. D. Robinson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, asking him to 
come there and take charge of the Christian church in that city. He 
answered in the negative. Then another letter came, and another, 
settiug forth the needs of the little church on Fourth street, below Mill. 
Then a letter came from Elder I. N. Walter, at the time in North Caro- 
lina, urging it as a duty to go to Cincinnati. Summerbell was converted 
under the labor of Walter, and it was hard to refuse. He prayed for 
guidance. His plans to go West with his brethren seemed so fair, and 
to promise so much for the future, that it was painful to change them. 

The correspondence grew more and more urgent, and letters from 



46 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Walter and Robinson both urged him to go to Cincinnati on the way, 
at least ; after which they thought he would stay there. 

He agreed to preach in Cincinnati on the first Sunday in May. 

He visited his wife's people in Warren County, New Jersey ; left his 
boxes in the care of Paul Forman, to be shipped later by canal, accord- 
ing to word which should be sent from Cincinnati, and went to Mr. 
Duckworth's to make his final start. He had sold his little lot, and paid 
Mr. Duckworth the loan. The farewell sermon was sad. 

With his wife and two little boys he drove the first day to Peapack, 
New Jersey, and stayed all night with Moses Craig, the father of Austin 
Craig; the second day to Camptown, and stayed all night with Elder 
Goff, and delivered to him the horse, carriage, whip, harness, etc., 
which he had bought for one hundred dollars. The next day Elder 
Goff took them to Jersey City ferry, and they were on their way by 
public conveyance. It was like a start for a foreign land. The other 
brethren went to Delevan. Summerbell visited his mother aud sister on 
Orchard street, New York, and his brothers in the State, thus making 
the trip by means of the Hudson River, canal, railway, stage-coach, 
Lake Erie, and railway again, from Sandusky to Cincinnati. 

The canal boat on which we came into Buffalo was crowded with 
passengers, and the trip was tedious and uncomfortable. Some were 
playing cards, and using the rough language that often goes with card- 
playing. It worried Summerbell. He went to the captain and got 
permission to preach. But preaching troubled the card-players, and 
one after another left the card table, and before the sermon was half 
through the cards had all disappeared and all were listening to the 
preaching of the gospel. 

The canal packet got into Buffalo on the first of May, nine o'clock. It 
was snowing hard, was very cold, and the lake was so rough that no 
boats could go out. Summerbell took his family to a hotel until he 
could get permission to take them to the boat. 

The next day, on the lake, they passed the wreckage and debris of the 
great steamer that had left Cleveland on the Sunday before with a 
dancing party. The boat caught fire and three hundred lives were lost. 

On arriving at Cincinnati we were received with such kindness that 
ties of friendship were immediately formed that were never broken 
until death. 

There were no street cars in the city, and the streets were not lighted 
west of Western Row, now Central Avenue. 

The church was very weak, having passed through severe trials. They 
had owned a good brick church in the eastern part of the city, on 
Lawrence street; but by letting the followers of Alexander Campbell 
preach in the house, the church was divided, and the minister and some 
of the trustees and members went off with the Disciples, and tried to 
take the property. But the faithful ones were capable in the emergency, 
and elected new officers and held the church, which they afterward sold, 
and bought a frame building on Fourth street, below Mill. They got a 
good pastor and were doing well. Then that fatal excitement and de- 



CHURCH TROUBLES 4T 

lusion that the world was to come to an end in 1843 swept over the city- 
churches and divided the Christian church again. L. D. Robinson had 
been a bulwark for the church, but it had been so weakened that it 
became hard to sustain a pastor. This was the condition when Sum- 
merbell arrived. He wrote to Milford for his goods to be sent to 
Cincinnati. 

On a salary of $500 per year he began the apparently hopeless task of 
building up the Cincinnati church. It numbered forty members, some 
of whom were widows requiring help from the church. 

In eight or ten days after arriving in the city, both the boys took the 
scarlet fever. 

A singular incident took place a few months after entering on the 
work: 

A prominent church-member, William H. Whitney, asked him why- 
he did not announce the church-meetings. 

"What church-meetings do you mean? We have held the regular 
ones," said Summerbell. 

"The extra church-meetings. We used to have them about every 
week," said the member. 

Summerbell replied, " What for ? What did you do?" 

" Well— well— we used to turn out the members." 

"We have no members to spare now, and we will not hold such 
meetings," was the reply. 

The feeble attempt to restore the old way of working was not 
continued. 

The summer of 1850 was one of great trial. Sickness entered the 
family — typhoid, scarlet fever, dysentery, whooping cough, and death. 
The sufferers from sickness were the whole family, but N. Summerbell 
was sick but a short time. 

Charles Henry, the younger boy, was a lad of wonderful brilliancy of 
intellect and sweetness of disposition. He never became reconciled to 
the residence at Cincinnati, and often cried to go back to "Jersey." 
His longing for the old home, for the playground under the maples 
near Milford, for the singing of the brook back of the house, all the 
time tended to sadden the other members of the family. His changed 
manner at Cincinnati tended to recall vividly his childish tricks and 
antics in New Jersey. 

On one of Summerbell's preaching trips there he took the child with 
him; and at one of his services, in order to keep the child in order, he 
placed him in the pulpit itself, on the seat of the preacher. All went 
well until he became somewhat excited in his discourse, when he 
observed the smiles of his congregation. He preached on, but presently 
became more disturbed at seeing the levity of his hearers steadily 
increasing; even the older brethren and sisters showing by increasing 
smiles, or efforts to preserve their gravity, that they were much amused 
by something ; while the younger people giggled in such a manner, all 
looking intently at the pulpit, that the preacher began to suspect that 
something was wrong with his appearance. Satisfying himself, as well 



48 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

as possible in a pulpit, that his costume was in perfect order, he was 
rapidly becoming confused and demoralized at the constantly increasing 
merriment. However, as most men will do under such circumstances, 
he kept on talking, and probably became more inclined to physical 
motion and activity, especially in gesturing, when, in quickly turning 
to look toward the side pews, he caught a sight of Charley. The boy on 
the sofa was in the very act of imitating his father's gesture and atti- 
tude. His mouth was going, though in dead silence, as though he were 
speaking, and hands stretched out as if in gesture. It is needless to say 
that the boy ceased the pantomime somewhat abruptly. His father, 
after the benediction, learned that he had been a long time during that 
sermon imitating him, and that the older brethren would not interfere 
to check him, because they enjoyed so much the perfect mimicry of the 
father's forceful gestures and manner. 

In this summer of 1850, all the family remembered other incidents of 
the child's acuteness. There was that last supper at the house of John 
Duckworth, the father of Mrs. Margaret Forman, and the grandfather 
of A. S. Eckel, now a deacon of the church. As in the great room the 
boy saw the supper nearing readiness, it is probable that he divined 
that, according to custom, in such a large company the "boys would 
have to wait till the second table." Charley approached Judge Duck- 
worth and said: 

"Me your boy." 

"What?" said the judge. 

" Me your boy; me not going west." 

"Not going west, not going with your father?" 

" No ; rne your boy ; me stay with you." 

By this time the child was climbing up into the lap of the judge, who 
was helping him. The boy went on with the most fulsome flattery, 
petting Mr. Duckworth, who enjoyed the evident acting, though not 
knowing the purpose. It attracted the attention of everybody. It was 
kept up in a steady, unbroken current of childish cajolery until supper 
was announced. By this time the shrewdness of the child had forced 
him to the front of attention in such a way that the judge said: 

"Well, if you're my boy you must eat with me; you shall always eat 
with me." 

He manifested no surprise or particular pleasure in the arrangement, 
but calmly took his place as if a matter of course. He declined, but 
without rudeness, the attention of his mother, saying : 

" Me Duck'rth's boy." 

Mr. Duckworth fed and cared for him till he had finished. Then, 
slipping down from the table, he ceased to pay attention to Mr. Duck- 
worth, going aside to play. When Mr. Duckworth called to him, 
asking him why he had left him, Charley said: 

"Me had my supper; me mammy's boy now," to the full delight of 
the judge. Then he went to his father, got into his lap, and said: 

"Me just in fun; me going with you, papa; me wanted my supper." 

And so he continued to be " mammy's boy " to the end; and when, 



CHARLEY'S DEATH 49 

in that front room on Fifth street, in Cincinnati, the whooping cough 
and dysentery completed their cruel work, his prattle was of Jersey, 
and his last word was "mammy," as he passed away at 1 p.m., August 10. 

His mother remembered Elder GofF and his words in New Jersey. 

Elder Matthew Gardner preached a funeral sermon at the house on 
Sunday morning, and Elder Hiram Simonton in the afternoon, at the 
old Burlington Church, where they buried him at the side of Elder 
Kinkade, the author of "Bible Doctrine," and the heroic speaker in the 
Illinois territorial legislature, whose mighty efforts on the floor kept 
that territory from being a slave state. For when they crowded around 
him where he was speaking, flourished their pistols and knives, threat- 
ening him with immediate death if he did not cease speaking, he 
calmly replied that it was as near heaven there as anywhere, turned to 
the speaker, and went on with that celebrated argument that finally 
won the votes that saved Illinois to freedom. Charley's remains lay 
there till 1877, when they were removed to the family lot at Spring 
Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati. 

But the blow was severe on the whole family. Joseph, the more 
sluggish in intellect, mourned, recalling any little thing to his bitterness 
where he could imagine he had treated his younger brother harshly. He 
remembered how the two boys had "played meeting ;" how Joseph had 
been the preacher and Charley the audience; how Charley would not 
kneel down or sit down according to the regulations of well-governed 
congregations, and how he stamped his foot, saying, "Sit down there, 
you little Presbyterian you." He remembered how he had let his little 
brother fall into the brook once, though he pulled him out, screaming 
after he was out for " Mur-r-r ! " to come to help. Devices and arts w T ere 
used to shake Joseph out of his morbid condition; but for a long time 
with little success. He was even sent to a private school, and a special 
bargain made with the teacher, an old Quaker lady, to get the boy to 
playing with the children, and to restrain him in no way. 

The Christian Palladium of September 7, 1850, contains the following 
from the pen of Summerbell : 

THE SON OF GOD. 

There are many who admit that Jesus is the Son cf God by a 
miraculous birth, who yet claim him as a human being, " very man," 
etc. I would bring a few texts before the reader's mind, if possible, 
to exalt and magnify his views of the Savior. The questions are apt, 
the answers Scriptural. 

Question. Who say ye that I, the Son of Man, am ? 

Answer. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. 
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar- Jona. 

Q. Adam was the first man of the earth, earthy. Who was the 
second man ? 

A. The Lord from heaven. 



50 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Q. Did he then exist before you, John Baptist ? 

A. He is preferred before me, for he was before me. 

Q. Then from whence did he come ? 

A. I came down from heaven. I came out from the Father. 

Q. How did he exist with the Father ? 

A. He had glory with the Father before the world was. Foi 
the Father loved him before the foundation of the world. 

Q. What works were accomplished by him ? 

A. God made the worlds and all things by and for him. 

Q. Then he must be before all things ? 

A. He is before all things, and by him all things consist. 

Q. Then he could speak from experience ? 

A. I speak unto you those things which I have seen with my 
Father. 

Q. If he was before angels and men, he cannot be of their nature ; 
what then is his nature ? 

A. He is the Son of God, the brightness of the Father's glory, 
and the express image of his person, inheriting the name of his 
Father, God, denominating his nature. 

Q. Does this Word being made flesh, etc., change its nature so 
that the Bible calls it "very man, 1 ' "human nature," etc. 

A. No ! Such degrading words are never applied to the Son of 
God by any inspired person. N. Summerbell. 

BEAUTY AND EXPRESSIVENESS OF SCRIPTURE PHRASEOLOGY. 

As Bible ministers, it is the privilege of Christian ministers not 
only to devote more attention to this subject than others, but to be 
more guarded to keep their "language pure." I have devoted some 
thought to this subject, and the more I consider it, the more am I led 
to see its importance. 

■ "1. We are called Christians, a name given us by our heavenly 
Father, who has thus named us after his Son Christ, the Lord. How 
much more beautiful and sweet, like the heavenly manna, is this 
God-chosen name, than any of the best of the hundreds of others 
which Christians have sought out for themselves. 

2. We call God, God; the Son, Son of God; the Spirit, Spirit of 
God : the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. How much sweeter to the 
Christian's ear this sound — God approved and heaven sanctioned 
— than the profane names which often disgrace the pulpit. 

3. To me the name Christian has more charms than Orthodox, 
Catholic, Roman, Dutch, Evangelical, or any other man-chosen 
name. 

4. To me the words Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are infinitely 
sweeter than trinity, triune, three-one Jehovah, or any other such 
names. 



SCRIPTURE LANGUAGE 51 

5. I would call Christians, Christians; God, God, etc., nor dare 
to name my God, nor yet to despise the name he has given to his 
children. 

6. And what I have said above applies to other parts of religion, 
as I prefer "atonement" to "vicarious atonement; " "born again," 
or "converted," to "getting religion;" "throne of grace" to "anx- 
ious bench;" "Lord's Supper," or "Communion," to "sacrament;" 
' w baptism " to " christening, " or " sprinkling ; " " elders, deacons, 
president," or "great bishop," to "cardinal, archbishop, presiding 
elder, class leader," etc. Besides, the Scripture words are more 
expressive. Pass your eye, reader, over the above arbitrary ex- 
pressions, unacknowledged in heaven and unknown to the Apostolic 
church, and gather if you can, unaided by foreign help, any definite 
Scriptural doctrine. No, you can not. Let us then forget them, 
with all their kindred expressions, and come to the Bible, a river of 
knowledge, flowing from the throne of God, and of the Lamb, and 
there drink of the waters of life, and there eat angels' food. 

N. StJMMERBELL 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 

In the spring of 1851, Joseph had the typhoid fever, being unconscious 
six weeks. The labor, watchiiig, nursing, and sorrow, at last worked 
their natural effect on the patient, loving mother; and, one day, while 
combing the hair of Joseph, he saw her hand fall, her form sway a 
moment, and then pitch forward. She was in a "dead faint," they 
said. She was sick a long time ; and when she seemed to be about to 
regain her health, there was a check ; to her recovery.; she did not 
improve properly. The physician said that she must be taken from the 
scenes surrounding her; that she would never get well there; that she, 
too, was mourning for Charley. 

Nicholas Summerbell was at this time on a salary of $500. He met 
all his troubles and sorrows with an unbroken resoluteness that seemed 
almost impossible. He was ever strong, ever faithful, ever tender. He 
carried his church work steadily on. He visited the sick of other 
homes. The cholera that was desolating the city had no terrors for him. 
He was ready for every emergency, prompt to every duty. He bore the 
gospel to the dying, and preached it every sabbath day to the living. 
His congregations were growing, and already he was forming plans for 
greater influence for good in the city. The command of the physician 
would have been met by a cry of despair, an I cannot! from most men. 
But Summerbell immediately planned a trip to Wisconsin, to see 
Charles Fitzer and the other friends that had left New Jersey, expecting 
their pastor also to go to Delevan. He secured leave of absence from 
the church by relinquishing his salary while gone. How strong he 
seemed, but tender as a woman, as he carried his sick wife to the 
omnibus, which took the family, now consisting of only three, to 
the steamboat. The trip down to Madison was easy; then railroad to 
Indianapolis; then stage-coach to Crawfordsville, where Rev. A. L. 



52 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

McKinney (Judge), who was attending the college there, met us and 
took us to the Osborne Prairie Church, where Summerbell met the 
Western Indiana Conference, with many old pioneers of the gospel, 
who, amid bitter persecution, had traveled through that heavily tim- 
bered State. Summerbell was invited to preach on true doctrines. 

Here he hired a horse and buggy of Robert Thomas with which to 
make the remainder of the journey to Wisconsin. Though his wife 
was able to ride only a short distance on the first days, her strength 
rapidly increased: the strange scenery, the queer life in Indiana, the 
open air and motion, the close presence of her husband and remaining 
boy, all combined to shake her out of her grief, and in a few days she 
was able to ride all day. Before reaching Wisconsin her health seemed 
fully restored. 

To the boy, the trip became a delight. Two weeks were spent in 
going, two weeks were passed with the Wisconsin friends, and two 
weeks were used in the return. 

On that trip the son saw the only thing that could be called a trick he 
ever knew in his father. 

The country then was wholly different from its present condition. 
Nearly all the traveling and freighting was by private conveyance. As 
Summerbell approached a certain "slough" (there pronounced as 
though written slew), he saw a four-horse team "stuck" in the mud. 
The slough was in open prairie. Summerbell stopped his buggy, leaving 
his wife and son on the nearer side, and went to the help of the mired 
team. It was driven by a peddler of wrapping paper, and was heavily 
loaded. It was necessary to unload the wagon, carrying the bales of 
paper over the tufts of boggy grass to the dry earth on the farther side. 
In carrying the paper, Summerbell became very warm, and laid a fine 
straw hat, Panama, expensive for him, down on the grass, near a pile 
of the paper. The peddler, a few minutes after, threw a heavy bale on 
the hat, nearly ruining it. Summerbell continued to work with him 
till the wagon was clear, the team had pulled it out, and the paper was 
nearly restored to the wagon. Seeing that further help was not needed 
by the peddler, he told him that he believed he would let him finish. 
The peddler did not even thank him, much less offer to pay him for the 
broken hat. Summerbell made his way across the bog, took his seat in 
the buggy, where his wife and child had become very tired waiting for 
him, started into the mire, and broke the harness of the horse. He 
was " stuck." He got out to patch, as well as he could in such a place. 
The peddler mounting to his seat, turned to look, saw Summerbell 
struggling with his difficulty, but cracked his whip, drove off at a trot, 
and soon passed out of sight. Summerbell was in no good humor. He 
succeeded in fixing his harness, with care crossed the slough, and drove 
on after the peddler. In' a few miles the track led to a fenced road, and 
in a little while to a tavern, before which stood the peddler's wagon and 
horses; but the peddler was probably in the tavern. Summerbell 
made some remarks as he drove by not very complimentary to the 
peddler. 



RETALIATION 53 

Within half a mile of the tavern the road descended into a valley, in 
which was timber bordering some stream. The road approached a long, 
narrow bridge by an inclined earthen causeway, but no wagon-tracks 
led up the causeway toward the bridge. The tracks turned off to the 
right, as if going along the stream toward some ford. Summerbell 
hesitated a minute or two, made a remark showing dislike to fording so 
many swollen streams, said the bridge was evidently all right, and 
drove up on it. The bridge was very long, very good, but very narrow ; 
only made for teams to cross at once in one direction. However, on 
coming to the end, to his dismay he discovered that the causeway was 
washed away, except what little earth clung to the abutment. Down 
this it was possible to scramble on foot, but utterly impossible to drive a 
horse and buggy, without accident. 

Summerbell perceived the situation at the first look after getting out 
of the buggy to examine, and instantly became all haste and energy. 
The horse was unfastened from the buggy, which was immediately 
drawn backward a few feet from him; Summerbell being deaf to the 
advice of Joseph to draw the buggy to the first end of the bridge, and 
giving energetic advice to him to "be still" aud hurry. He tied the 
harness carefully to the horse, drew the lines out into one long halter 
strap, only one end fastened to the bit, lengthened the line with all 
available straps, and then leaving the whole free, except the end which 
he wrapped around his hand, he struck the horse violently, and drove 
him off the steep end of the bridge. The horse jumped, fell, slid, and 
scrambled to the bottom, where he was checked by the line held above. 
He was quickly fastened to a bush. Summerbell returned to the buggy, 
carried down every movable thing out of it, and then placed himself 
under the front axle, directing his wife and boy to hold the buggy from 
falling forward over him as he lifted it down. They dragged the hinder 
part back as well as they could, and so the buggy was lowered. He 
commanded his wife and son to restore the "things" to the buggy 
quickly, and he hitched the horse into the shafts with wonderful speed, 
all "jumped" in, and then Summerbell drove only a few yards forward, 
to a point where he could be fully seen from the other side of the river. 
Then he waited, all haste done. He kept looking back to the road he 
had come, as patient as before he had been hurried. He forbade the boy 
to look around the side of the buggy top; all looking by the boy was 
through the^ glass in the rear curtain, as soon as the peddler appeared in 
the distance. When the peddler came down to the end of the causeway 
he stopped. He looked at the various tracks- at the bridge, and then 
across the river at SummerbelPs buggy, which was now slowly moving 
off along the road. He evidently reasoned that Summerbell had just 
driven off the bridge, and that it must be passable. The boy, looking 
back, saw the peddler drive his heavily loaded wagon on the bridge. 
His father asked him if the peddler was on the bridge ; and, on receiving 
an affirmative answer from Joseph, started driving rapidly on. It then 
dawned on the mind of the boy that his father was retaliating on the 
peddler, who could only get off the bridge by drawing the wagon back- 



54 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

ward its whole length. From the appearance at the injured end of the 
bridge, there was little danger of harm befalling the peddler; but yet 
the boy saw in his grand, great father an element that he never again 
saw in his long, active life. This was the only instance he witnessed of 
anything that could be called retaliatory. 

He was usually forgiving, even to a fault. He seemed almost godlike 
in this, ever seeking to do good to any one that injured him. But most 
men loved him, and few sought to harm him; none, except those moved 
by jealousy. 

On this trip occurred an episode in some respects amusing. We 
crossed the Kankakee River one day near noon, and almost immediately 
drove into water which was overflowing the low lands lying along the 
river. We had received instructions in making our way to the distant 
blue, which indicated trees and higher ground, to drive only where the 
grass showed above the water; that where the grass did not show the 
driving would be unsafe, on account of the depth of water. We 
followed the directions till near night, the water most of the time 
washing the hubs of the buggy, when we drove out of the water on 
higher ground, and soon found the sign of a track, which we followed 
until we came to what appeared to be the beginning of a log house, 
which had never been carried beyond the beginning of the gables. 
Summerbell called loudly, "Hello!" and was quickly answered by a 
voice behind the house, and a man came around it. Summerbell said : 

"What will you take to pilot us out ot this swamp? 7 ' 

"I won't do it for anything to-night, but I'll do it in the morning for 
a dollar." 

"But where can we stay all night? " 

" Oh, you can stay with me." 

"But your house hasn't any roof on it." 

" Oh, my house is behind this one." 

On driving a few feet further along we saw a low log house, where we 
were to remain all night. We alighted and found a lively family — a 
father, mother, a son nearly grown, two girls or young women, and a 
boy two years old ; the latter being dressed like a full-grown man, even 
to the points of vest and "stand-up collar," like that often worn by 
distinguished public men. When he wanted drink, he would go to his 
mother and say, "Cow, cow," and she would lift down a large pan of 
milk from a shelf and hold it to-his lips. The " house " ha<J no window, 
and all the light, daylight, came in at the door, or down the chimney. 
The owner soon found that Summerbell was a preacher, and manifested 
curiosity to know what " kind of a preacher" he was, not seeming able 
to grasp the idea that a man might simply be a Christian, and he said: 

"I used to live in York State; and back there I knew a Baptist 
preacher, and he stole a horse." 

Summerbell smiled and said, "I don't care for that; I am not a Bap- 
tist preacher." 

"Well, I knew a Methodist preacher, and he ran away with another 
man's wife." 



AMERICAN HEATHEN 55 

"Oh, well, that don't make any difference to me; I am not a Meth- 
odist preacher." 

"And I knew a Universalist preacher, and he was worse than either 
of them." 

"I am not a Universalist," said Suminerbell; and later he related 
the story with the remark that the man then gave up the chase, prob- 
ably because he did not know of any other denominations. 

In the one small room we were assigned to the best bed. Joseph was 
sent to bed before his father and mother went, and, according to his 
custom, kneeled at the side of the bed to " say his prayer." Two girls, 
quite large ones, were lying in a bed on the floor close by. As Joseph 
said his prayer, he spoke in a low tone, but aloud, and the householder 
turned from the large fireplace toward which he had been looking, 
absorbed in the conversation of Summerbell, and with his heavy raw- 
hide boot kicked violently the girl nearest him, exclaiming: 

" Sal, stop that noise ! " 

"That is not Sal," said Summerbell; " that is my little boy saying his 
grayer." 

"Prayer!" exclaimed the man; "prayer! that's the first prayer in 
this house!" Then he pointed at one of the girls and said, "That girl 
there never heard a prayer." 

In the night it rained hard, the water came through the roof on the 
hed where the Summerbells were all huddled, in their effort to sleep, 
and Summerbell got his umbrella and actually raised it over the bed. 
But soon he called to the man to wake up and make a fire. He seemed 
nn willing at first to rise, and growled at us for complaining, saying that 
we had the best corner in the house ; but rose and made the big fire that 
•shot out its light and heat into all parts of the room. After we had be- 
come comfortable, occurred a conversation that I have heard attributed 
to the "Arkansaw Traveler." Summerbell said: 

"Stranger, why don't you mend your roof?" 

" Oh, when it rains I can't, and when it don't rain I don't need it." 

In the morning we were safely piloted out of the swamp, Big Spring 
Prairie, according to agreement. 

On arriving at Blackberry, where probably Elder Oliver Barr was 
preaching, we were entertained by the sainted William Wheeler. Be- 
fore going to church, Sister Wheeler said : 

" Brother Summerbell, I do hope you won't preach on doctrine to-day, 
for our church has been so persecuted by other denominations in refer- 
ence to our views. They are all the time preaching doctrine, doctrine. 
It is doctrine, doctrine, all the time." 

" Do our ministers preach on doctrine? " 

"Oh, no; our people never say a word." 

"Sister Wheeler, the grace of God helping me, I shall preach on 
doctrine, for my mission is to preach the doctrine of the Bible, and that 
is the doctrine of the Christian Church." 

The Methodist minister attended the meeting and asked Summerbell 
if he would hold a debate with him on the doctrine of the trinity. 



5% SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Summerbell said, "Yes, I would be pleased to do so, if you wish." 

' ' When can you hold it ? " 

"Just now; begin this afternoon." 

"Oh!" said the Methodist minister, "I will want a week to get 
ready." 

"I can't wait a week to get ready, but will begin now and debate a 
week if you wish me to." 

The Methodist minister replied, "I will see a friend of mine, and let 
you know by meeting time." 

When meeting time came, he and his friend were there, and told 
Summerbell they wished him to preach a sermon on the doctrine of the 
trinity, as he believed it, and he would reply to it, and then they could 
make future arrangements. 

Summerbell preached a strong Scriptural sermon, and did not spare 
the Methodist discipline. When he closed, he asked the Methodist 
minister to the stand to make his reply. 

The Methodist minister commenced by asking if that was the doc- 
trine of that church, and the pastor said, "Yes." 

"Well," said the Methodist minister, "I have misunderstood the 
doctrine of the Christians. I have no reply to make, and don't wish 
any debate, for that is the doctrine I believe." 

Then he gave a warm Methodist exhortation, and prayed that the 
false doctrine in the Methodist discipline, and all other false doctrines, 
might "go back to hell, where they came from." 

Summerbell preached once or twice in a Unitarian church at Geneva, 
whose pastor's name was Conant. 

Elder Gardner Dean, pastor at Henry, Illinois, who happened to be 
attending the meeting at Blackberry, prevailed on Summerbell to 
go to his church, though much out of the way. ,On arriving at the 
Illinois River, it was found to have overflowed its banks, was miles 
wide, and it was told us that we could not cross that night, for the 
ferry had made its last trip. On driving down the bluff to the water 
side, we found three teams ahead of us — two two-horse loaded wagons 
and a two-horse carriage. Summerbell had some horse feed and pro- 
visions, which he divided among the waiting men, who soon all became 
good friends, though insisting that they would not allow Summerbell 
to take their turn, even if the ferryman should return. By continuous 
horn-blowing the ferryman was called from the opposite side of the 
river. The two wagons were received on the ticklish, dangerous flat- 
boat, when the ferryman called out that the two-horse carriage could 
not come on the boat, for it would make the load too great to steer 
among the trees, but pointed to Us, and said, " That one-horse rig can 
come on by taking the horse out of the shafts," etc. Thus Summerbell 
was enabled to reach his appointment at Henry the next day, Sunday. 
The four young men of the two-horse carriage were compelled to go 
eight miles down the river, and did not reach Henry till Monday. The 
long passage on the frail, raft-like flatboat was exceedingly interesting 
to the boy. 



FRONTIER EXPERIENCES 57 

I'roni there we went to Wisconsin, having a great variety of adven- 
tures on account of the high waters and the nightly heavy rains. 

On crossing one prairie, we met a team, and asked the driver how far 
it was to a settlement. He replied that the first grove we would come 
to had a house in it ; but before we got to it, we would have to cross a 
dangerous stream, and we must do it before dark. When we got there 
we would see a bunch of willows, against which we must rub hard to 
the left, for at the right was water ten feet deep, and this was the only 
place where the stream could be crossed. We crossed safely, only 
getting wet from the rush of the overflowing water into the wagon-bed» 

We had been following the trail over the prairies, and when we got 
to the grove it was dark; we lost the trail and could see no house. 
Summerbell made his way on foot until he heard the lowing of cattle, 
then shouted, was answered, and thus was guided to men, who showed 
us to a house, a large, frame tavern, where they were fiddliug and 
dancing inside. Summerbell asked the landlady if she could keep us 
all night. She replied that they were obliged to keep those who came, 
for it was so far to the next settlement; the house was full, but he 
could have a bed in the building where the cattlemen slept ; and we 
went to bed in the men's cabin. When they came iu, and the lights 
were out, the howling of wolves was heard. The cattlemen, in the 
dark, went to telling each other stories of the wolves; one, how the 
wolves would take their wallets of food from under their heads when 
they were asleep, when they camped out. Summerbell asked if they 
often had such hair-breadth escapes. The men laughed and ceased the 
effort to frighten us. 

The proprietor of this place owned all the grove, five miles long by 
three miles broad, besides thousands of acres of adjoining prairie. 

We reached Delevan, Wisconsin, and found the eastern friends all 
prosperous. On Sunday morning Summerbell preached in the Ee- 
formed Church on the "King of Glory," and at night on the "Rise and 
Fall of the Roman Empire." Summerbell himself, in the Christian 
Palladium, writing under date of July 22, 1S51, says: 

I preached five sermons in the Congregationalist, the largest 
church in the village, while I was there ; preaching the peculiarities 
of the Apostolic religion. The Congregationalist minister is con- 
sidered the ablest minister in the village, and he has the largest 
congregation. He approved of my preaching, fellowshiped the 
sentiments, and in the only sermon he preached while I was there, 
remarked that ' ' sectarianism was not a child of God, but a brat of ' 
hell, which God never had owned, and never would." Said that we 
had "inherited it from our fathers the same as slavery," and that w^e 
should get rid of it; but, said he, " I really do not know what to do." 
May the Lord in his benign providence show him, is my prayer. 
But above all, may he ever heed the command of Jehovah, "Go 
forward ! " 

Efforts were made to have him remain and establish a Christian 
church, but he felt that his duty was at Cincinnati. He made a short 
visit with his beloved brethren, fished, hunted, and returned, with 



58 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

another set of adventures, needless here to relate. We left Cincinnati 
feeble and sickly, and returned strong and rugged. Dr. Menzie's advice 
had been accurate, although the journey had been rough and hard, 
with even food sometimes difficult to buy when we were hungry. 

Summerbell resumed his work at Cincinnati. Though he was called 
for, far and near, to preach ordination, dedication, funeral, and doctrinal 
sermons, he did not neglect his local work. The following incident will 
illustrate the deep feeling -and enthusiasm sometimes aroused under his 
speaking. 

He had preached a characteristic sermon in the Fourth Street Church, 
and at its conclusion had received some members into fellowship, with 
his usual impressiveness. A certain prominent citizen, a Mr. Mont- 
gomery, a Methodist, an Irishman with an attractive brogue and of 
fine personal appearance, rose in the congregation, and secured Sum- 
merbell's attention, saying: 

"Mr. Summerbell, may I say a few words?" 

Summerbell replied, "Certainly." 

"Well, I want to say that I like your preaching. I believe your 
doctrine ; I think the principles of your church are true, but I can 
never join it, never. I can't join it at all." 

"Why?" 

"Because you give the members the Bible, the Bible to live up to, and 
that is divine ; it is God's book. Now I am a Methodist; I just have 
the discipline, and that is human; I am not afraid of breaking that. 
But the Bible is different; that is divine. You make your members 
promise to obey that. I can never join your church." 

The incident illustrates how men were sometimes carried beyond their 
self-control by the preaching of Summerbell. 

He attended the Southern Ohio Conference, meeting such pioneers as 
Naaman Dawson, Matthew Gardner, D. F. Ladley, Alexander McClain, 
and others. 

In 1852 he published the following tract on "Infinite Attributes: " 

THE INFINITE ATTRIBUTES. 
ETERNITY, INFINITY, OMNISCIENCE, AND OMNIPRESENCE. 

BY N. SUMMERBELL. 

[ Meadville (Pa.) Theological Press, W. D. Haley, Printer. 1852.] 

I. Eternity is sometimes considered as divided by the present, 
into eternity past, and eternity to come ; and in this sense, it is said 
that eternity ' l as an attribute of human nature is a duration that 
has a beginning, but will never have an end." (Buck's Theo. Die.) 
If this is correct, then, in respect to their future duration, all beings 
which shall not be annihilated, may be termed eternal, or everlasting 
beings. Another sense, and a higher, in which persons are some- 
times called eternal, is that they commenced their being in eternity ; 
that they are not creatures of time, but existed before time — are 
timeless. Such are the angels, and all intermediate beings between 
God and mortals, called JEons by the old philosophers, who could, 
without doing violence to their language, speak of the "Supreme 



THE INFINITE ATTRIBUTES 59 

^Eon who appeared in the person of Christ" (Neand. I., 381), with- 
out meaning the Supreme God. Truth is said to be eternal, because 
imperishable, and Christ is that eternal life, which was with the 
Father before the world was. He may be called eternal because be- 
ginning irrespectively of time ; existing with God as the "koyog or vovg 
by his primitive essence, which "was God;" and manifested as the 
Son of God, by whom God created all things. 

2. But God alone is eternal in the unqualified sense of the term. 
God is eternal in being, unoriginated, underived, independent, the 
first great Cause, himself uncaused, without beginning or end. 
Before the first creature existed by his grace, he had existed in an 
unbounded, undefined eternity, which absolutely excludes all number 
and computation. Not only are days, months, years, and ages, lost 
like specks in infinite space, but untold millions of years multiplied 
by the sands of the seashore and again multiplied by the highest 
numbers, computed by the highest celestial intellect, bear as little 
proportion to eternity as the inconceivable fraction of a moment. If 
we go back in imagination as far as we may, we shall find the be- 
ginning of any given period ; but eternity is still as remote from the 
beginning of that remote period as it is from to-day. Human 
language cannot describe it. We can say that it is incomprehensible 
— infinitely beyond the power of human thought, which is but saying 
it is eternity, and there we leave it. 

3. But oh, Thou incomprehensible and eternal One ! how does the 
mind stagger under the weight and magnitude of the idea of our own 
duration in a future eternity! And is that ceaseless being ours? 
Wonderful thought! That eternal life ours! Tremendous respon- 
sibility! Well does the Apostle exclaim in transporting ecstasy, 
"That far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." And who 
are to enjoy this endless life? They "who by patient continuance in 
well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality. . . But, unto 
them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey un- 
righteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon 
every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the 
Gentile; but glory and honour and peace to every man that worketh 
good, to the Jew first, and also the Gentile. " 

II. Infinity is also taken in entirely different senses, that is, 
positive and negative. The positive is the infinity of fullness and 
perfection. The negative is immensity, boundless, unlimited. The 
word is also used to signify greatness of power and quantity, 
especially in the classics; in such cases it barely signifies great. 
Thus Eliphaz called sin "infinite" (Job 22: 5), and the Grecian 
general retreated an "infinite" distance, signifying simply great in 
magnitude, distance. 

2. Space must be infinite. As duration is as eternal as God, so 
space is as infinite as God. Since we cannot conceive of God's 
eternity, without the eternity of duration, so neither can we conceive 
of an infinite God without an infinite space to operate in. And 
since we cannot conceive of a period of duration without an eternity 
beyond, so we can conceive of no limit in immensity however remote, 
though multiplied by untold millions any given number of times, 
which will not have, stretching beyond it, the boundless realms of 
infinite space. No point appears there of which it can be said, 
"Thus far shalt thou go and no farther." 

3. The eternal fitness of things in order to consummate the in- 
finite harmony, demands, and every logical deduction affirms, that 



60 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

with eternal duration and infinite space, there must be not only an 
eternal but an infinite intellectual Existence. Else the vacuum so 
much abhorred by nature not only exists, but exists of infinite 
magnitude, stretches beyond all intellectual existence, incompre- 
hensible, unmeasured, and unknown. This idea transforms vacuum 
itself into the only infinity, and substitutes non-existence for the 
supreme God. But we revolt at the idea. That unknown immen- 
sity, that unfathomable darkness and obscurity exists not. Space is 
known by him that filleth all in all, and no remote corner is darkness 
or obscurity to that infinite Intelligence. 

4. The infinity of God precludes all possibility of equality, and 
comprehends every possible perfection ; and thus the Bible declares 
him to be unequalled in power, glory, or eternity. His understand- 
ing is infinite (Ps, 147: 5), his judgment unsearchable, and his ways 
past finding out. (Rom. 11 : 33.) 

5. God, being infinite, must comprehend all good, and must be 
the supreme object of all desire. To enjo.y God is to be infinitely 
rich ; to be deprived of God is to be miserably poor. When we con- 
sider our own littleness, and then pass from this rebellious self to 
the great, the incomprehensible, the eternal One, how does the mind 
shrink back within itself ! How does the heart recoil in deep conster- 
nation! But why recoil? Why fly back? Why hesitate to gaze? 
There is the soul's fountain. There is the heart's relief. In God's 
infinite goodness, in God's abounding grace, mercy and peace are 
offered; peace found alone in Jesus' blood. 

III. Omniscience is the perfection of knowledge and wisdom; a 
perfection which is peculiar to God. If Dr. Clarke limited God's 
knowledge, he was not wise. ISTo Christian philosopher could do 
this. God must be omniscient, and no being but God can be omnis- 
cient. Other beings may be great in understanding, like the angels, 
know what is in man and all things, like the Son, (John 16 : 30) "for 
the Father showeth the Son all things that himself doeth;" yet this 
"all things" may be known without omniscience. Jesus said to his 
disciples, "I have foretold you all things." (Mark 13: 23.) The 
woman said, "When Messias is come, he will tell us all things." 
(John 4:25.) Jesus said, "The Holy Ghost shall teach you all 
things." (John 14: 26.) And John said, "Ye have an unction 
from the Holy One, and ye know all things." (I. John 2 : 20.) 

For God's wisdom and knowledge to be limited to all things that 
exist, would rob him of his omniscience, cut off his foreknowledge, 
and deny his immutability. For he would then necessarily make 
new discoveries in the new development of events, and necessarily 
adapt himself to the unforeseen circumstances as they transpired. 

To know all things that exist alone, would come as far short of 
infinite knowledge as to know but a few things ; just as millions of 
miles or millions of years bring us no nearer the bounds of space or 
the end of eternity, than a few roods, or a few days. Some persons 
meet with a serious difficulty growing out of a misunderstanding of 
the nature of divine knowledge. They have supposed that if God 
foreknew all events, that this foreknowledge fixed them so certainly 
that no choice was left — all future events being bound by the 
adamantine chain of fate. This false idea arises from a misunder- 
standing of the nature of foreknowledge. The foreknowledge of a 
thing presupposes the foreknowledge of the choice of the agent, and 
of all the contingencies and causes which produce the thing on 
which the knowledge depends as its cause. Foreknowledge is fore- 



THE INFINITE ATTRIBUTES 61 

sight. And as the sight of a thing does not exist without the ex- 
istence of that which is seen, i. e., does not create the thing seen; so, 
neither does foreknowledge cause, fix, govern, or influence that 
which is foreknown, but rests upon it and depends upon it. Thus, 
my choosing to write upon this subject, is the cause and not the 
effect of God's foreknowing it. Had I chosen some other subject, 
God would equally have known that. 

The false view alluded to involves its own destruction, because it 
binds God and robs him of all free agenc;f equally with man. For, 
as from all eternity he foreknew his own future acts, if foreknowl- 
edge .made them fate, God himself could have no choice but must 
eternally act, as, without choice, he eternally knew that he would. 
The only way of avoiding this absurdity is by supposing that God 
chose, willed, or decreed all things before he foreknew them, which 
involves an equal absurdity. For to decree is to act ; to act supposes 
time, and this supposes a time before that time. Hence, if God 
knew nothing until he had decreed it (Tucker), then before the first 
decree he knew nothing, and has grown in wisdom with each decree, ' 
and as long as he wills or chooses, so long will he continue to increase 
in wisdom. This false supposition destroys every perfection of the 
Godhead. The foreknowledge of God binds no man. God fore- 
knows not only how things really are, but he foreknew that they 
might be very different from what they are; provided, we would 
have been better men than we are. 

Jesus taught the omniscience of God when he said, ' ' The very 
hairs of your head are numbered," and "not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without his notice." This knowledge of God is universal, 
unlimited, and direct ; that is, not derived from others. It is perfect 
and peculiar. Not even "the Son," yea, none "but the Father 
only," knew the date of the end of the world. (Mark 13 : 32.) 

IV. Omnipresence. This is also a peculiar attribute of God. Yet 
we would not be understood to mean that spirits are contracted in 
their presence to a narrow, local sphere like man. That the pres- 
ence of spirits is more extended than that of physical bodies, there 
can be no rational doubt ; hence, there are doubtless principalities, 
and powers, and thrones, and dominions, in the eternal world, whose 
princes are omnipresent to all within their sphere or under their 
government, having all power, knowing all things, and being uni- 
versally present as far as the Eternal One wills, but no farther. No 
doubt there are many such beings who, in the vastness of their glory, 
would eclipse in the eyes of the vulgar, their highest conceptions of 
God. The greater portion of the Christian world, obtaining their 
theology from the western church, i. e. , from the Latin and African 
schools, have engrafted upon the spirituality of Greece, the material- 
ism of Africa, and while they hold God to be an impalpable and 
immaterial spirit, without body, parts, or passions, they suppose him 
to be materially and bodily present, with an universal center and 
unbounded circumference — thus supposing God to possess a body 
filling universal space. This view, besides the first feature of ma- 
terial grossness, which shocks an understanding cultivated by the 
Bible, is also infinitely objectionable, since it makes God not only 
universally present, but locates all things literally in God. Thus 
God is substantially diffused, and tangibly embraces all spaces, all 
things, all worlds, all evil spirits, all corruption, even the abode of 
lost spirits — all in God. This idea so shocks the understanding 
of the Bible Christian that he must have a "thus saith the Lord," or 



62 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

abandon the philosophy. Spirits are doubtless present by the per- 
fection not of a physical, but an intellectual nature. 

It is not necessary in order to our presence with an object that it 
should be encased in our organization, or body, or even that we 
should touch it. Neither is it necessary in order for a spirit to be 
present, that everything should be embraced in its substance. God 
is everywhere present by the unlimited extension and infinite per- 
fections of all his attributes. Thus, nigh, afar off, past, present, and 
future, are all alike present to God. ^Nothing is beyond his sight ; 
nothing is beyond his hearing ; nothing is beyond his power. Thus, 
"if I take the wings of the morning and fly to uttermost parts of 
the earth, God is there ; if I ascend up into >heaven, God is there ; if 
I make my bed in hell, God is there ; " not in a physical, gross, or 
carnal, but in an intellectual, spiritual presence. There his eye sees 
me, there his ear hears me, there his hand leads me, there his power 
extends over me. Other spirits may be present, universally present in 
their unlimited dominion or sphere. But God, being infinite, is om- 
nipresent. Other spirits may be present throughout narrow or ex- 
tended spheres, according to their nature, dignity, perfection, or 
power, or according to the will or grace of God. The sphere of the 
insect is narrow, yet commensurate with its limited faculties. The 
sphere of the beast more extensive, but confined to a narrow circum- 
ference. Man, not content with the present, gathers up the past, 
pierces the future, explores distant deserts and oceans, ranges 
through the fields of science, and opens by telescopic vision the 
pages of distant worlds. Shall we still ascend higher in these rising 
degrees? Why not? If angels are superior to men according to 
their nature — and who can doubt it? — and principalities and powers, 
thrones and dominions still convey the mind upward through heaven, 
immeasurable spaces before reaching the eternal throne, where shall 
the bounds be set which limit the spiritual world? Who will define 
the powers of those spirits which inhabit them? Extended space 
becomes a mere whispering gallery, and distant worlds as literally 
present to them as a new landscape is to me. And yet, however ex- 
tended the power, the influence, or the presence of subordinate 
beings, none but God is universally present, because none but God is 
infinite ; all other beings are limited. And though the presence of a 
being extended over this, or ten thousand worlds, or ten thousand 
times ten thousands of thousands, though it could be present with 
every man and every angel, and every intellect in every world, yet 
might its powers be thus limited, and hence approach no nearer to 
Omnipresence than though limited to the narrowest circumference. 
Just as millions of years approach no nearer eternity than an hour. 

God is infinitely present. To suppose that he is not, destroys all 
our religion, and unsettles- all confidence in the divine government. 
Were there any heart in the universe which God did not know ; 
were there any mind in the universe which God could not compre- 
hend; were there any remote portion of the infinite space that 
God's eye did not explore, who could tell what extensive powers 
might be there? There, far beyond, and not in God's dominion, 
would then be infinite space, for God would be limited. Who could 
report the principalities, powers, thrones or dominions of those un- 
told and illimitable regions? Who could tell what adverse powers 
might yet invade the empire of God? might yet contest the throne of 
the universe? Faith in the universal presence of God is to the saint 
a thought full of comfort. His God and his Father, his best, his un- 



THE INFINITE ATTRIBUTES 6& 

changing Friend, is ever and everywhere present. In youth and 
age, sickness and health, life and death, God is everywhere present 
— present to observe our warfare, to be a wall of fire around us, to 
strengthen and bless us, present to uphold and protect us. But alas ! 
the wicked — he cannot escape from God. Darkness does not cover 
him. Even the grave shall not cover him. God reads his secret 
thoughts ; God sees his secret sins. Hypocrisy is no veil, death is 
no shelter, and to him the presence of God affords no comfort, but 
distress rather. Oh, how shall the wicked endure that all-searching 
eye, when disrobed of mortality, all unprepared, they see as they are 
seen, and with a full, realizing sense of their shame and guilt, strive, 
like Adam, but vainly strive, to avoid that omnipresent eye. 

V. Omnipotence is the unlimited power of God. It has been 
supposed by some that the omnipotence of God could be proved by 
works. Charnock, and Gill, and Saurin, and Tillotson, and many 
others have taken this view. The argument is this, that the power 
which could create worlds must be omnipotent. The reasoning is 
specious, but the conclusion is not from the premises. As well might 
we say the man who owns one million acres of land must own the 
whole world ; or the man who lived nine hundred and sixty -nine 
years must live forever ; or an ocean that is three thousand miles 
wide must be unbounded; or ninety-six millions of miles must be 
infinite distance. For as a large given quantity bears no more propor- 
tion to infinity than a small given quantity does, so a given amount 
of power comes infinitely short of infinite power, whether the given 
power be great or small. Infinity of power is just as infinitely be- 
yond the power which it takes to create worlds, as it is beyond 
the power which it takes to kill an insect. All must see that 
however great it might be, yet a limited amount of power was neces- 
sary to create the worlds. And if we suppose that God had no 
more power besides that by which he created the worlds, then, 
though great, he would not be omnipotent, not infinitely great, but 
limited in his power. And lacking infinite, though possessing a 
great power, what he lacked would be infinitely greater than what 
he possessed. 

God gave the Son a certain amount of power ; that is, all power in 
heaven and earth is given to the Son. So that it is proved that a 
very great amount of power can be given. But suppose that this 
was all the power which God possessed ; that is, that God had no 
power out of heaven and earth ; infinite space- beyond would then 
sink back to, and forever remain in darkness and confusion, and 
chaos eternally reign over the infinitely extended fields of space. 

The omnipotence of God, like his other attributes, forces itself 
upon our understanding as a necessary consequence of the admission 
of the eternity of duration and infinity of space. The eternity of 
duration and the infinity of space are such evident axioms that no 
mind can possibly fail to perceive, or refuse to believe them. But 
eternity of duration without anything durable, is immortality with- 
out anything immortal, and infinite space without an infinite "God, is 
an infinite vacuum, from which the mind starts back aghast, and 
determines that an infinite intelligence exists by the natural laws of 
thought. This intelligence being infinite and eternal, is infinite in all 
his attributes, hence omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. Paul 
denominates God's omnipotence, his "eternal power' 1 (Rom. 1: 20), 
and the osalmist, speaking of God's omniscience, says, "His under- 
standing is infinite" (Ps. 145 : 5), and his omnipresence is alluded to 



64 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

by the psalmist when he inquires, " Whither shall I go from thy 
spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend into 
heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art 
there ; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost 
parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right 
hand shall hold me." (Ps. 139:7.) God is unlike all other beings 
in that his sufficience of existence, power, and wisdom, is all in him- 
self. There is no one on whom it can be said he is dependent. He 
challenges no rival, and he does this not as associated in different 
persons, but in owe individual person. "Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me. I am God, and besides me there is none else. There 
is no god like me.' 1 Never does God acknowledge either an equal or 
superior, but speaks to all, even to his Son, as a sovereign alone can 
speak. God has no creator, no father, no god. God never prays, or 
gives thanks, or looks up to another. God never sustains the station 
of a second, third, or subordinate position. His will, and his alone, 
is supreme, and there is no being in the universe whose will should 
not be sacrificed to the will of God. He is eternal, immortal, in- 
finite, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. He existed eternally 
before we existed. His eye has marked every volition of our minds. 
His ear hears our most secret whisperings. His power is constantly 
extended over us. And no secret act of our lives is hid from his 
eyes. He has appointed a day in which he will judge the world. 
Oh, let us be prepared ! Let us adore and worship him in his great- 
ness for his goodness. And let us reverence and praise him, for we 
are fearfully and wonderfully made. 

In the year 1852 Summerbell published his small church history, 
printed at the office of the Christian Sun, in the south. This was 
probably the encouragement to the publishing of his larger work, in 
later years, " History of the Christians." 

In June, 1852, he was called to hold a debate at Henry, Illinois, 
with a Rev. Mr. Phelps, a presiding elder of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, who had issued a challenge to our people. It was 
really the sequel to another debate which had been begun by Elder 
Oliver Ban* with Mr. Phelps, in the northern part of the State. In the 
first debate Elder Barr's voice failed, and he asked a discontinuance, or 
that he might secure a substitute. With some magnanimity, though 
with skillful innuendoes as to the cause of Elder Barr's hoarseness, Mr. 
Phelps granted the request to secure a substitute, adjourning the debate 
for that purpose. 

In the first debate Elder Ban* had found considerable difficulty, being 
of a very gentle and yielding spirit, in defending himself against inter- 
ference in things that could hardly be made the subject of complaint. 
Mr. Phelps, while he was speaking, would turn to Elder Barr, who 
would be taking notes, would lay his hand on his head, and pleasantly 
telling him to "Take it down," "Take that down, brother," would 
shake and seriously disturb him. The practice had become a nuisance. 
Many other such little annoyances made Elder Barr's task difficult. He 
informed Elder Summerbell of what he might expect, proposing that 
some rule should be proposed for the moderators to enforce on the sub- 
ject; but Elder Summerbell told him that he would take care of 



PHELPS DEBATE 65 

himself. When Elder Phelps turned to lay his hand on Summerbell's 
head, alluding genially and humorously to the baldness under his hand, 
Summerbell finished the words he was writing as well as possible, looked 
up with a smile, and put out his hand apparently to ward off Phelps's 
hand, and, as if playfully, pushed his tormentor away. But Summer- 
bell was a very strong man, and in the push that looked so slight to the 
spectators there was great force, and Phelps found himself flying out of 
the pulpit, only escaping it by clutching at the desk. He was too manly 
to make complaint, and thereafter he laid his hand no more on Sum- 
merbell to disturb him. 

For . the last two days of the discussion, a composite debate was 
arranged, N. Summerbell and A. L. McKinney, A.M., speaking for the 
Christians, and Rev. Mr. Phelps and an English minister of Peoria, 
Illinois, for the Methodists. 

When asked to render assistance, Elder McKinney urged his own 
lack of preparation, not having made any plans for such a duty; but 
Summerbell suggested that he should merely reply to the arguments of 
the second Methodist minister, leaving Phelps to him (Summerbell). 
McKinney accepted this duty. His wit, irony, and eloquence, together 
with his sharp logic, exasperated the Methodists to a high degree. 

In order, apparently, to break the force of Summerbell's speeches, a 
dozen or fifteen Methodist ministers, after he would fairly begin to 
speak, would, one after another, noisily straggle out of the church. 
They would remain outside until near the time for Summerbell's speech 
to close, which they could know accurately by their watches, when they 
would begin to return in the same disturbing manner in which they had 
previously gone out. By this process ten minutes of Summerbell's 
time would almost be lost. 

The abuse became so great that the Christian brethren proposed to 
Summerbell to call on the moderators to stop it. But he declined, and 
said he would stop it himself. Accordingly, the next time the dragging 
procession started, several ministers being on their way toward the door, 
he ceased his speaking on the question, and said to the audience that 
"they must not blame these ministers for being disorderly; that they 
could not help themselves; that they had not their liberty; that it was 
their presiding elder who was debating and he had given them orders 
to leave the house, lest they might hear the truth and be convinced of 
their errors." This abated that nuisance. 

However, feeling finally became so great that Mr. Phelps could not 
bear his anger further, seized his books and papers and left the church. 
In his anger he was so carried away from his usual spirit that he took 
the pulpit Bible of the Christians away with his own books. As soon as 
he discovered his act, he sent the Bible back with a gentlemanly 
apology. 

A stenographer had been employed to report the debate for publica- 
tion; but on being urged for the copy, he made the plea that Summer- 
bell had spoken with such rapidity that he was unable to read his notes. 
There were suspicions, however, that he had been induced to be unable. 



66 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Summerbell was at that time absent from home about three weeks r 
and during his absence his daughter, Mary Matilda, was born, July 4, 
1852. 

With reference to this debate, the following appeared in the New 
York Daily Times of December 14th : 

Ministers do not know what moment we shall be called on to exhibit 
their knowledge. Read the following paragraph from a missionary 
brother in Illinois: 

A public debate between the Methodists and Christians has been 
seven days in progress on the doctrines of the trinity and a vicarious 

atonement. The advocates of the doctrine are , the presiding 

elder, and two circuit preachers; opposed, , from C, sent for by 

express, and to aid him, two preachers of the Christian order. A re- 
porter, engaged by the parties, is active taking notes for publication. 
Orthodox views have been strongly sustained by the affirmants. The 
opponents have been, in argument, weak, evasive, subtle, and deceitful. 
God's name they have profaned, and his word they have dishonored. 
They boasted somewhat of their knowledge of Hebrew and Greek. 
Unexpectedly, a question arose upon a Greek sentence quoted by Dr. 
Adam Clarke in his Commentary. After a dispute it was agreed to*refer 
it to a Presbyterian minister in the house. It was referred to your 
missionary. To decide was easy. The decision was a triumph of a 
little knowledge over less. For a moment error was seen to blush. Its 
friends were disconcerted. The advocates of truth felt that by this, an 
event in itself trivial, an important advantage had been gained to their 
side. The Christians in the assembly could not judge then that their 
guides " would teach the Methodist and Presbyterian ministers some- 
thing," as was vauntingly said by one of their members, who was 
piously trained by Dutch Reformed parents. In the judgment of others 
in the assembly, the accurate and extensive attainments of the boasters 

were brought into suspicion. Mr. asserted- to the Methodists that 

he could read Hebrew, chapter for chapter, with any person they might 
bring forward. Your missionary was asked by a Methodist preacher 
with what facility he could read the Hebrew. The answer was that he 

would do the best he could in reading Hebrew with , before 

leaving the house, or at whatever time or place should be chosen. 
Though your missionary has been in the house since, no inquest has 
been held to ascertain whose knowledge of Hebrew is the most pro- 
found, his who gave the challenge, or his who might accept it. 

The foregoing malicious squib provoked the following reply: 
ILLINOIS DEBATE— METHODISTS VS. CHRISTIANS. 

To the Editor of the New York Daily Times : 

If the publication of ex-parte -reports of sectarian discussions in papers 
devoted to the noble cause of literature is at least censurable, how much 
more so when truth is sacrificed to prejudice, and charity trampled 
upon to sustain antiquated creeds. 

The article in the Times of December 14th, among the religious re- 
ports, headed, " Ministers do not know what moment we shall be called 
upon to exhibit their knowledge," without date or signature, is a direct 
attack on the Christian ministers engaged in the Illinois debate. Hard 
words betray the author's prejudice, blanks in the place of names his 
discretion, and a constant perversion of facts his lack of qualifications 
for a " missionary." He is in error in stating that " Christian aid " was 
sent for by express; that the reporter was engaged by the "parties;" 
that the Christians boasted of their knowledge of Hebrew and Greek ; 



PHELPS DEBATE 67 

that a question arose on a Greek sentence quoted by " Clarke; " that Mr. 

asserted that he could read Hebrew "chapter for chapter," etc. 

The question on the Greek was on an obliterated letter, a question of 
sight or orthography, and not of theology. The Hebrew and Greek 
were both read up to the time when the trinitarians retreated from the 
contest, and your paper conveys to us our first information that they or 
the "missionary" understood either. 

Allow me to say in conclusion that the whole communication in 
question is a perversion of plain truths, and does great injustice to both 
the Christian Church and its ministers ; and if its nameless author is 
not satisfied with this version of the affair, he can have the same oppor- 
tunity in New York that his friends have had in Illinois. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 
Cincinnati, Ohio, December 18, 1852. 

There was no reply. 

In this year, 1852, he published his "Bird's Eye View," as follows: 



68 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



bird's eye view. 



MISCALLED ORTHODOX DOCTRINES 
Compared With Christian Doctrine and the Bible. 

In consequence of many of our Methodist brethren blaming us for 
not having a human creed, and also inasmuch as it is the constant 
desire of many in our community that we would present to them a 
brief view of the principal points of difference between the Chris- 
tians and the different denominations around us, I have been per- 
suaded to present this "Bird's Eye View," which I entreat the reader 
to look over carefully, comparing it with the Word of God, and to 
decide with no view to popular favor, but for eternity. I also warn 
the reader that the difference which appears so great, lies principally 
in words, most of the orthodox ( ? ) really believing just as we do, 
but being led astray by the unscriptural phraseology of their creeds. 

N. B.— Read across the entire page : 



I. They hold as folloivs : 

1. DISCIPLINE. «®= 

2. Trinity. &W 

3. Triune. «®= 

4. God is three.*?®" 

5. God is three Lords. Ji® 31 

6. His name is three. 3®° 

7. Holy three. 8®= 

8. God the Son. ««- 

9. God the Spirit. £® 

10. The God Man. J8®= 

11. God died for us. «®= 

12. Christ is the eternal God. a® 8 - 

13. Worship the Trinity, e®^ 

14. God is reconciled to men. ©3P 

15. God received the atonement. - 



We hold as follows : Bible decides : 

BIBLE. Matt. 15: 9. 

God. Gen. 1:1. 
One. 

God is one. Gal. 3: 20. 

God is one Lord. Deut. 6: 4. 

His name is one. Zech. 14 : 9. 

Holy One. Isaiah 12 : 6. 

The Son of God. John 20: 31. 

The Spirit of God. Gen. 1: 2. 

God is not a man. Num. 23: 19. 

This was the Son of God. Matt. 27: 58. 

Christ is God's. I. Cor. 3: 23. 

Worship God. Rev. 22: 9. 

We are reconciled to God. Rom. 5: 10. 

We received the atonement. Rom. 5: 11, 



II. 

16. 
17. 

18. 
19. 
20. 
21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 
25. 
26. 

27. 

28. 
29. 



They hold as follows : 
METHODIST Dis. Pub. 1829. 
Class ( meeting). ti^ 
Class Leader. fiSP 
Presiding Elder. Jd®" 
Slaves— Discipline 187. fi®" 



We hold as folloivs : Bible decides. 

CHRISTIAN. Acts 11 : 26. 

Prayer ( meeting ) Acts 1 : 14. 

Deacon. I. Tim. 3: 8. 

Elder. I. Tim. 5:1. 

Neither be ye called masters. Matt. 23: 10. 



Chap. I. Discipline disobeyed, sec. 22, 2; sec. 23, 1, 2, 5; sec. 24, 4, 8, 14; p. 70, 71, 72. 

Chap. II. Discipline contradictory, 1st, 2d, and 3d articles, sections 1, 7, and 2, 5; 

2 p. 78, 80. 

Chap. III. The body and blood of Christ are prayed to for preservation over 

life; p. 96, 67. 

Chap. I. Distinction between Methodist and Christian is shown; sec. 12, 2, p. 48 

Chap. I. Discipline disobeyed by preachers; sec. 8, ques. 2, 4; p. 187, 2, 3. 

Chap. I. Section 20; page 16; teaches universalism. 

Chap. I. Articles V. and VI. are so true that they look odd in the book. From 

p. 151 to 187 is on Temporal Economy, and the rest is on Slavery. 

Part II., Sec. 2, Deed of Settlement— Deeds of all the people's churches to the 

priests in conference; p. 158, 159, etc. 

Chap. 2; sec. 3; page 81, 4, is disobeyed by bishops, priests, leaders, and people. 



bird's eye vmvr 



69 



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TO SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The following appeared in the Gospel Herald: 
JESUS, THE SON OF GOD. 

BY N. SUMMERBELIi. 

I. That Jesus is the Son of God, in the proper and commonly- 
accepted meaning of the word son, is a doctrine which I think is 
plainly revealed in the Word of God, and calculated to impart com- 
fort to the heart of the true penitent, as well as to the confiding 
saint. Some of the thoughts which strengthen this idea in my 
mind may be of use to others. 

1. His character appears without the tarnish of sin, pure and 
heavenly as the atmosphere surrounding the eternal throne. In 
Noah and Abraham and Moses and David, we find such exceptions 
to purity as readily convince us that they Were men like unto us, 
but we find no such moral weakness in Jesus. 

2. Again, we see this power in the purity of his doctrine, and the 
infinite extent of his principles ; high as heaven, deep as hell, broad 
as the universe, stretching into the future beyond the power of the 
greatest intellects ; appearing to the child in knowledge, but just be- 
yond his present attainments, and the philosopher still just beyond 
— higher than the highest, deeper than the deepest, broader than the 
broadest, and purer than the purest. 

3. Also the self -consciousness of his own power and wisdom 
shows a superior nature. We never find him asking aid of men or 
seeking counsel of them. He stoops from the towering height of his 
greatness to touch the loftiest argument of his adversaries, and 
confounds them without efforts or parade. 

4. The purity of his language also, as the universality of his 
philanthrophy, the strange commingling of dignity and meekness, 
gentleness and perseverance, humility and power ; his total exemp- 
tion from the weakness of our nature, continually strengthen the 
conviction in my mind that Jesus was superhuman in his origin. 

5. His miracles I would not dwell upon farther than to notice the 
difference between them and those performed by others — first, in 
number; second, in greatness; third, in the ease with which they 
were performed, and fourth, -in the fact that they were all for the 
good of others. 

II. The name, Son of God, I claim as proof of his superhuman 
origin on account of the circumstances connected with it. The 
objection that he is called a man much oftener than he is called the 
Son of God, I regard as nothing to the purpose, since whether he 
was the Son of God in the highest sense of the word or not, still he 
was in fashion as a man, and hence would be called a man. His 
being made flesh would make it necessary that he should have a 
body like a man, look like a man, and be subject to those peculiarities 
which flesh is heir to ; yet, I would not forget that angels are called 



THE SON OF GOD 71 

men, as is also God himself. Also, that angels walked, talked, ate, 
rested, washed their feet, and in other respects performed acts 
resembling those of men. 

But taking the ground that Jesus was simply a man, how are we 
to understand such texts as the following : 

1. He " took upon him the form of a servant." 2. " Being found 
in fashion as a man." 3. "As the children are partakers of flesh and 
blood, he also himself like wise took part of the same." 4. "He took 
not on him the nature of angels, but . . . the seed of Abraham." 5. 
"I speak that which I have seen with my Father." 6. "I came forth 
from the Father, and am come into the world : again, I leave the 
world, and go to the Father." 7. "What and if ye shall see the 
Son of man ascend up where he was before ?" 8. "I came down from 
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." 
9. "The glory which I had with thee before the world was." 10. 
"For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." 11. 
"Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor." Some of 
these texts may be explained — or explained away — by a play upon 
words, but most of them defy all explanation contrary to the doc- 
trine which I maintain. 

III. Again, although Jesus is called by about two hundred names, 
yet there is not that interest clustering around any of them that 
encircles that of the Son of God. 

That he should be called the Son of God was announced by the 
angels. God gave him this name at his baptism. John bare record 
that he was the, not a, but the Son of God. When evil spirits pro- 
claimed him, it was as the Son of God, and Jesus declared that they 
knew him. Blessings and privileges cluster around the Son of God. 
He is called God, Angel, Man, Lion, Lamb, Vine, Bread, Shepherd, 
etc. But there is no blessing promised for believing that he is 
either. Not so with the name, Son of God. Said Peter, Thou art 
the Son of God. Jesus replied, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, 
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven." 

This could not mean that he was barely a son of God, for this 
would have included the former answer. John said that Jesus did 
many miracles which were not recorded ; but those recorded were to 
convince us that Jesus was the Son of God, that believing Ave might 
have life through his name. The confession of the eunuch was, I be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John said, "This is 
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he 
that overcometh the world, but he that belie veth that Jesus is the 
Son of God? " 

Such blessings and promises and privileges and encouragements, I 
am confident, can be brought to prove no other doctrine concerning 
Jesus. "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, 



72 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

God dwelleth in him, and he in God." " He that acknowledged the; 
Son hath the Father also." "I have written unto you that believe 
on the name of the Son of God." "He that hath the Son hath 
life." "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him- 
self." Vainly shall we look for such heavenly sanctions to any 
unimportant doctrine. 

IV. Also, it ill comports with philosophic ideas of adaptation for 
a man to say, "All power is given unto me, in heaven and in earth." 
Can we suppose that a mere man, or that God by a mere man, will 
raise the dead and judge the world? Can we suppose that all things, 
both in heaven and in earth, are to be gathered together in a 
mere man? That a mere man is to reign at the right hand of God, 
until all his enemies are subdued under his feet? Does a mere man. 
hold the keys of hell and of death? It seems to me that there is far 
more difference between Jesus and Moses than there is between 
Moses and the angels. 

There are two remedies resorted to by the advocates of the hu- 
manitarian system, which I will name without admitting their 
power to deliver the system from the force of this argument. The 
first is by the trinitarian, who says that Christ is both God and man, 
or God-man. Hence, whatever is not true of one nature, is true of 
the other and the contrary. But it is true of neither God nor man, 
that he was rich and for our sake became poor; that he came- 
down from heaven not to do his own will. The argument some- 
times raised from the different names, Son of Man and Son of God, 
by which Jesus is cut, and divided off, and parcelled out, and the 
parts labelled: this human and that divine; this mind finite, and 
that infinite ; this omniscient, and that ignorant ; this omnipotent and 
that weak— is very weak in reason and very heretical in theology. 
For by reason it is evident that such a distinction in one person can- 
not exist — that it is impossible for the same person to be at the same- 
time infinitely wise and very ignorant ; God omnipotent and finite- 
man. Such reasoning is an insult to the human understanding. To 
thus divide up and parcel out Jesus in a creed, may be well enough 
for those Avhose fancy created him, whose he is, and whom he must, 
serve ; but such liberties with- the Son of God would be exceedingly 
profane. Besides, the Son of Man and the Son of God of the Bible 
are the same person, and whatever is true of the one is also true of 
the other. 

"Who," said Jesus, "do men say that I the Son of man am?" 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," answered Peter; 
and Jesus approved the doctrine and blessed the confession. Again, 
"What," said Jesus, "if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up< 
where he was before?" 

So they put to death the Son of God, and "killed the Prince of 
life;" and he who now holds the keys of hell and death, who i& 



THE SON OF GOD 73 

worshiped by saints and angels, is he who was once dead and is now 
alive ; who redeemed the saints out of every nation by his own blood : 
wherefore they worship him. 

The frequent words of contempt by which some deprecate the idea 
of trusting in any but God, that is, of trusting in Jesus if he is not 
the Supreme God, are.more inconsiderate than designedly wicked, and 
always emanate from an uninformed mind. There is nothing' more 
evident to the well instructed reader of the Bible, than that there is 
a great person beside God. For God has laid help upon one that is 
mighty. Such an one is seated at his own right hand. By whom 
also he created the worlds, and made all things that are made. Be- 
neath his feet all things are to be subdued, after which he will de- 
liver the kingdom up to the Father, that God may be all in all. 

From numerous passages such as these, the reader of the Bible 
knows that the Son of God is a real being of a greatness only sur- 
passed by God himself. 

V. The fathers are very explicit. Origen spake of a class of 
believers who never "elevate themselves to the Father" — "never 
proceed beyond the Son, and hold him to be the Father himself." 
(Nean. 1: 578.) 

Justin thought that Jesus was the Son of God, and that ' ' this can- 
not be new to those who speak of Jupiter as having sons." (Ap. I. 
Ed. Thirb., p. 31.) 

Theophilus said of God, ' ' When he proceeded to produce, then 
he emitted the Logos, the first born of every creature." (Ad. Autol. 
L. II., p. 120.) 

Ire?iceus asks, "How is the son produced of the father? No one 
knows but only the father who begat, and the son who is begotten. " 
(Lib. 2, ch. 48, p. 176.) 

Clemens Alexandrinus says, " The Father alone is without begin- 
ning." (Priestly's Cor. 1: 26.) 

Tertullian says, " God was not always a Father or a judge since 
he could not be a Father before he had a son, nor a judge before sin." 
(Ch. 3, p. 334.) 

Lactantius says, " God, before making the world, produced a holy 
and incorruptible spirit, which he might call his Son." (Inst. Lib. 
4, p. 246.) 

Hilary says, "God the Father is the cause of all, without begin- 
ning and solitary, but the Son was produced by the Father without 
time." 

These extracts show plainly that those called "the fathers," by 
"unanimous consent," believed in the pre-existence of the Son of God, 
as a distinct person from the Father. This idea does not, of course, 
include those Ebionites, whose low opinions of Christ are well 
known. Also, the ablest writers of ancient times, the oldest histor- 
ians, without exception, all the ancient general councils (for the 



74 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

constrained creed of Nice, and the sectarian faction of Constant- 
inople, can form no reasonable exception to this statement), main- 
tained the same opinion. 

VI. Jesus, speaking of himself, often alluded to his heavenly and 
pre-existent state. Said he, k ' No man hath ascended up to heaven, 
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who 
[whose abode] is in heaven." ( John„3 : 13.) " For the bread of God 
is he which cometh down from heaven." 

"The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the 
Lord from heaven." I. Cor. 15 : 47. 

Christ is distinguished from men by Paul: Gal. 1:1, 10-12, "An 
apostle not ... by man, but by Jesus Christ." Col. 3 ; 23, "Whatso- 
ever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." 
The law makes men high priests, but the Son is made high priest by 
an oath. No man was able to take the book ( Revelation 5 ) and to 
loose the seals, but the Lamb opened it. Of that day and hour 
knoweth no man, neither the Son. In such passages the Son of God 
is plainly distinguished from men. 

Jesus says, "Before Abraham was, I am." 

John said, "He that cometh after me is preferred before me." 
John 1:15. 

That the name, Son of God, is sometimes applied to angels and 
men, is no more proof that Jesus is not peculiarly the Son of the 
God, than the fact that God and angels are sometimes called "man," 
will prove that we are not men. The argument in the one case is 
just as conclusive as in the other. 

In conclusion, I will point the reader to the blessings connected 
with faith in the Son of God, and close by a reference to his glory 
and worship : 

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God 
dwelleth in him, and he in God." 

He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image 
of his person. 

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every 
creature." 

" We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father." 

"Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." 

"God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, 
whom, he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made 
the worlds. " 

"Declared to be the Son of God with power according to the 
spirit of holiness." 

"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father : but he 
that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." He appears in 
celestial glory, crowned with many crowns. His hair is white like 



BUILDING CINCINNATI CHURCH 75 

wool. His eyes are as a flame of fire. A sharp two-edged sword 
proceedeth out of his mouth. His countenance is as the sun shining 
in his strength. His voice is as the sound of many waters. His 
raiment white and glistening. A golden girdle is around him. His 
feet are as fine brass burning in the fire. Upon his thigh is the 
name written. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He holds the 
keys of hell and death. In his right hand he holds the stars of his 
church, and he walks among the seven golden candlesticks. 

The angels worship him with harps and golden vials, saying, " Thou 
art worthy to receive glory, and honor, and power." The saints join 
in the song, saying, ' ' For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
God, by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
nation. " Then were heard many angels and seraphim, and the four 
and twenty elders, and the number was ten thousand times ten 
thousand and thousands of thousands ; and every creature in heaven 
and in earth and under the earth, and in the sea all joined the chorus 
and in. loud worship sang, ' ' Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to 
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and 
glory, and blessing." This is an accumulated weight of worship, by 
the hosts of heaven and earth ; which, while it is rendered, not to God, 
who did not die, but to the Lamb slain, is such a weight of glory as can 
be borne by no mere man ; and which all our religion and philosophy 
forbid us to believe heaven would bestow upon a man. Whether 
correct views of the nature of Jesus have a tendency to produce a 
purer love for his religion than imperfect views, is a question upon 
which I am sorry to know that there is a difference of opinion ; but 
that the truth will not retard the growth of love, I suppose all will 
admit. 

With all his general labor, Summerbell was carrying on the work of 
the Cincinnati church successfully. Congregations increased, with 
marked growth in influence. 

In the spring of 1853, the little Fourth street property was sold at 
auction, and a fine lot was bought in what was then the central resi- 
dence section of the city. The corner stone of the new building was 
laid with impressive ceremonies, and an address by Summerbell on 
August 16, 1853. 

The burden of building was heavy for the little church; but the 
pastor traveled and solicited funds, and a structure was finally erected 
at a cost, with the lot, of about $25,000. 

Prior to the dedication the church had passed a resolution, especially 
requesting the pastor to preach the sermon; but he engaged Prof. W. H. 
Doherty, A.M., of Antioch College, and but few knew that he was 
going to preach till he entered the pulpit. 

Summerbell had brought $600 to Cincinnati, the savings of his life up 
to that time ; and with the accumulated interest and the profits of his 
little church history he bought a little farm in Darke County. 



76 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

His activities were almost indescribable; but be allowed nothing to 
turn him away from his chosen work, though the appreciation of the 
citizens of Cincinnati would gladly have given him work along other 
than his own lines. We find the following in the Cincinnati Commer- 
cial : 

Voters of the Sixth Ward. 

Fellow Citizens— In consequence of the number of candidates for 
School Visitor, rendering it probable that by suffering my name to run 
I might draw votes from the man of my own choice, and thus indirectly 
lend my influence to elect an incompetent person, I hereby withdraw 
my name from the canvass. 

P. S.— My friends, who unsolicited placed my name before the people, 
will pardon me for withdrawing it without consulting them, as I have 
but just arrived in the city. N. Summerbell. 

Saturday Evening, April 1. 

In August, 1854, occurred the delbate with Flood, at Centerville, Ohio, 
which w r as carefully reported by Ben Pitman, edited and published in 
book form by Summerbell, who issued in his life eight editions of the 
work. The subject of controversy was the trinity, creeds, and total 
depravity. 

In this debate a sweeter spirit prevailed than in the Phelps debate; 
and the two disputants separated with mutual love and respect. An 
event occurred, aside from the discussion, that could not be reported in 
the book, though of much interest at the time. The debate continued 
for seven days, the intention being to observe Sunday as a true sabbath 
for worship. However, after the last speech on Saturday afternoon, a 
Methodist brother announced that Rev. J. M. Flood would preach in 
the church the next morning at half past ten o'clock. This was a 
wrong act: for though the Methodists were allowed the use of the 
church each alternate sabbath, the next day regularly belonged to the 
Christians. Instead of making any complaint, or insisting on their 
rights, Elder Summerbell announced that the next morning he would 
follow Elder Flood. 

The next day, of course, the immense audience was only in part able 
to gain entrance to the house. The Methodist ministers began their 
services rather late, for which there was color of excuse in the constant 
crowding into the church. When they began, they dragged every ex- 
ercise, reading a long Scripture lesson, making long prayers, and singing 
long hymns. The sermon was a long one, doctrinal in its matter, 
arguing the questions which had been before the public in the week- 
day discussions. At the close of the sermon, which came at an 
extremely late hour, the people did not leave, though this had probably 
been anticipated by the Methodist brethren; but remained to hear the 
sermon of Summerbell. It was short, entirely free from doctrinal 
matter, spiritual, and practical. It was so much in harmony with the 
feeling of the Methodists, that when Summerbell closed his sermon 
with an invitation for members to the Christian church, and asked the 
Methodist singers to sing, they heartily raised their voices in song. To 
the surprise of the audience, one of the most prominent and respected 



THE FLOOD DEBATE 77 

members of the Methodist denomination there, a school teacher of great 
intelligence, came forward, and handed a letter to Summerbell. At the 
close of the singing the letter was read, and proved to be an explanation 
of his reasons for leaving the Methodist church. He said that his 
relations with his brethren had always been pleasant; that he had 
received only kindnesses from the Methodists, and had only love for 
them; but that listening to the discussion so far had convinced him 
that the Christians had the truth. 

Mr. Flood, on hearing the letter, sprang forward, saying, "This is all 
done for effect, all done for effect." 

Summerbell smilingly replied, "Well, you take in some of our best 
members for effect." 

The reception proceeded. 

During, or at the close of the discussion, Summerbell told Mr. Flood 
that he would cease to preach the trinity. The prediction came to pass, 
but we are unable to give the date. 

Summerbell sold his little farm, using the most of the money to pub- 
lish the discussion, but taking $100 to help to entertain the Quadrennial 
Convention, which was held in the Cincinnati church later. Concern- 
ing the success of the book, which passed through eight editions, the 
following article by Brother J. E. Brush, of New York City, published 
in the Christian Palladium, of March 3, 1855, will convey information : 

DEBATE BY SUMMERBELL AND FLOOD. 

Since the suspension of the Messenger and Palladium, some new 
enterprises have transpired, of which it is probable many of our friends 
are not apprised. The discussion on the trinity, recently published, we 
are glad to learn is attracting much attention. It has passed two 
editions and a third is ordered. It contains fifty-eight speeches of thirty 
minutes' length, and a perusal will satisfy the friends of the denomina- 
tion that the peculiar platform of the Christian Church is amply 
sustained. Mr. Summerbell has completely Flood-ed his opponent 
with Bible truth. He is in fact a perfect encyclopedia in sacred history, 
and this discussion will form one of the most valuable text books for 
the young minister that I have ever seen. He will find condensed the 
most ample proofs to sustain our views respecting the Father of all, his 
Son, and the Holy Spirit, also the arguments pro and con respecting 
total depravity, etc. It is in fact just such a work as our friends can- 
not afford to deprive themselves of, if they have a dollar to spare. I am 
happy to learn that Methodists and others are reading it, and feel well 
assured that the Bible platform will lose nothing by the investigation. 
It will be remembered that Brother Summerbell was associated with the 
lamented Barr and Prof. McKinney in a similar discussion with three 
champions of Methodism in Illinois. That discussion was lost to the 
public through the conduct of the reporter, who, it is thought by some, 
was hired to suppress the matter. Care was taken in this discussion 
that no such disaster should be reenacted. Any person who desires the 
work may receive it free of charge, if one dollar is mailed to N. Sum- 
merbell, Cincinnati, or to I. C. Goff, Carnptown, New Jersey. 

J. E. Brush. 

The Quadrennial Convention was held in October, 1854, in the new 
church building in Cincinnati. Rev. Rufus B. Stebbins was president. 



78 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Elder Dearing, of Michigan, offered anti-slavery resolutions, which 
were hotly debated and adopted. Rev. W. B. Wellons, a delegate from 
the southern church, withdrew from the convention. He was a slave- 
owner. He announced that the southern churches would withdraw 
their fellowship. 

The attendance at the Convention was large, but few, however, of 
those who were present then are now living. 

Some time during these years was held in Cincinnati the first anti- 
slavery convention ever held west of the Allegheny Mountains. Sum- 
merbell was the president; Frederick Douglass and Gerrit Smith were 
speakers, and a short time guests at his house. Lucy Stone was also at 
the convention as a speaker. 

Summerbell's attitude toward slavery was one of uncompromising 
opposition. He predicted at this time, that the institution would lead 
to a great war; but he expressed the hope that it would not come during 
his life. 

Asked whether he would obey the fugitive slave law, he replied, 
" No; I would give the escaping slave some bread, and help him on his 
way to liberty." 

On August 18, 1855, in the Christian Palladium, appeared the follow- 
ing, from his pen : 

THE ATONEMENT. 

1. The various scholastic, speculative and Bible opinions of the 
great at-one-ment, may all be resolved into two general classes ; one 
regarding satisfaction as the object to be attained; the other sal- 
vation. 

2. The first is without Scripture warrant, grounded in mystery, 
and attended with infinite objections. The last is Scriptural, rational, 
effective. The at-one-ment of the New Testament is the reconcilia- 
tion of the sinner to God, through the death of the Son of God. 
This state of reconciliation is an at-one-ness with God in mind, heart 
and spirit. To bring about this reconciliation the sinner's heart 
must be changed, his sins purged away, and he must appear in the 
"wedding garment" called the " Righteousness of the /Saints." A 
principal means in accomplishing this is the suffering and death of 
Christ. "By his stripes we are healed," i. e. reconciled— atoned. 
"Washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the 
Lamb," i. e., converted, sanctified, changed. "When he had by 
himself purged [away] our sins." "The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth us from all sin." "Are made nigh by the blood of Christ." 
k k How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience 
from dead works," etc. Thus it is that the Lamb of God taketh 
away the sin of the world, by saving us from our sins. 

3. The great sacrifice of the atonement — the death of our beloved 
Savior, affects the sinner through faith by means of preaching, 
whereby the sinner is pointed to the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world : which, by the application of the Spirit, 
secures his salvation, viz. : his conversion ; for when the heart is 
once changed and brought into the enjoyment of the righteousness 
of Christ by the blood of the Lamb, God mercifully forgives all past 
sins. The sacrifice by which we receive the atonement, thus, is 



THE ATONEMENT 79 

powerful in effecting the salvation of the soul by causing repentance, 
faith, conversion, sanctification and redemption. It takes the sinner 
in his sins and works out his salvation if permitted to be effectual. 

4. The scholastic views of the atonement, that it is satisfaction, 
etc., being a legal transaction, must be either conditional or partial. 
For 1st, if it is full satisfaction and complete redemption from all 
the sins of the whole world ( Method 1st Articles), then it would 
inevitably lead to 'Universalism. There are two ways of avoiding 
this dilemma : — 

First, by limiting this satisfaction to a part of mankind, and 
teaching that he only died for the elect ; second, by limiting it to a 
part of our sins, thus leaving some sins for which no satisfaction is 
made. In accordance with this latter view, the sinner is expected to 
repent and believe before he can receive the benefit of the atonement. 
But as repentance and faith constitute him a saved person, he is 
thus required to save himself before the Savior s blood can benefit 
him. In accordance with this idea, there is no atonement, satisfac- 
tion or redemption for the sin of unbelief \ of willful rebellion against 
God, of rejecting Christ, etc., of finally dying an enemy to God, in 
unbelief, although these are the greatest of all sins ; and consequently 
the sacrifice was not for all the sins of the whole world, but only a 
part of them. 

Did Christ die for all the sins of some men? Then may some men 
be saved. 

Or only for some of the sins of all men? Then by him can none 
be saved. 

Or for all the sins (unbelief and refusal to repent) of all? Then 
must all be saved, on the scholastic opinion that his death was 
"satisfaction." 

One or the other of these three dilemmas must every person expe- 
rience who adopts the ' w satisfaction " scheme : while by abiding by 
the Scriptures no difficulty occurs. 

5. I know that it has become fashionable to speak contemptuously 
of the Bible atonement, that it is simply conversion, etc, as 
though salvation from sin. were a trifling matter compared with 
satisfaction. Permit me however to say that I regard salvation as 
of infinitely more importance than any satisfaction can possibly be, 
and very much pity the delusion of those who regard the salvation 
of the soul from sin and its conversion to God, as unworthy the 
dignity of the Son of God. N. Summerbell. 

On October 3, 1855, he delivered the following annual address before 
the Little Miami Christian Conference, at Carysville, on 

AN EARNEST CHURCH AND MINISTRY. 

To the President, Delegates, Ministers, and Friends of the Con- 
ference : 

Assembled once more in our annual gathering, it is a duty enjoined 
upon me to deliver our usual address. 

The journey which we are traveling is an eternal one. -Mistakes 
will not die of themselves, and are better abandoned than eternally 
carried; for errors, though old, are errors still— stereotype them as 
we may — and the mistakes of the fathers are as fatal as the mistakes 
of the sons. 



80 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The successful church has ever been an earnest church. 

From the time when the first Christian sermon was delivered in 
Judea, the first Christian prayer-meeting held on Mt. Tabor, the first 
Christian baptism in the waters of the Jordan, and the first com- 
munion in an upper room in Jerusalem, Christianity has come down 
to us through the turbid waters of ceaseless controversy, the crush- 
ing ruins of dissolving empires, the expiring fires of decaying phil- 
osophies, and the dying embers of many religions. Over the dark 
waters of a stormy sea, and the gloomy face of a tempestuous world, 
with ten thousand foes around, she has reached the shores of our 
age. 

In her origin she mingled with the decaying service of the temple, 
and snatched from the consuming elements the lingering disciple of 
Moses. In her progress she passed through the classic cities of 
Corinth and Athens, and gathered in the subtle disciples of Pythag- 
oras, Aristotle, and Plato. She traversed the empire of Rome, 
receiving the homage of the iron warrior and the sturdy yeoman, 
planting the unspotted banner in the palace of kings and in the 
world's capital. She trod the sands of Asia, and was embraced by 
the ancient followers of Confucius and Zoroaster. 

Her mission was to all, far and near, high and low ; to the king 
and subject, priest and layman ; to the traveler upon the desert and 
to the mariner upon the sea — to win all, to instruct all, and to save 
all. Reviled as fanatical, branded enthusiastic, still she triumphed ! 

She gathered in the virtuous of all, because, while she had a virtue 
superior to all, she was free from their errors. 

She possessed the knowledge of the agnostic without his vanity, 
a,nd the modesty of the academician without his skepticism. For 
the Epicurean she had a nobler pleasure; for the Pythagorean a 
more benevolent humanity ; for the Platonist a brighter hope, and 
for the Stoic a more patient endurance. 

O'er classic fields, or sandy plains, or sunny vales of oriental or 
Italian climes, in far off mountains or distant isles, the mysterious 
banner of spotless white arrested the attention of the unstable world. 
In every country she gathered followers, from every philosophy 
disciples, and from every religion worshipers. 

Yet every nation was not redeemed from all its peculiarities, every 
philosophy from all its errors, nor every religion from all its idolatry 
and superstition. But when the empire of the world lowered its 
pennant before the cross, the Platonist found his mysterious triad in 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; the gnostic his two-fold Christ in 
an incarnate Savior ; and Rome a new emperor in the successor of 
St. Peter. Kings and worldly conquerors united with senates and 
philosophers to revise, to alter, and to mend the religion of heaven : 
and, mended or marred, it became the loorlcfs religion. Creeds 
were published under imperial authority. The Prince of Peace was 



AN EARNEST CHURCH AND MINISTRY 81 

worshiped as the sanguinary God of vengeance and war. Bloody 
armies were christened by the command of more bloody tyrants, and 
led forward by thousands to destooy the true followers of the world's 
Savior. 

But under the rule of a false and apostate church the history of 
the world grows darker. The Roman church proclaimed no "Glory 
to God in the Highest," no "Peace on earth," no "Good will to 
men;" and in her borders were found neither glory, nor peace, nor 
good will. 

Yet all through her dark and cruel reign the true church continued 
her labor of love, struggling with the iron power of her apostate 
oppressor. The councils called to oppose, the creeds published to 
condemn, the rack, the stake, the inquisition erected to destroy, and, 
above all, the crusading armies to consume, prove the presence, 
mark the locations, and demonstrate not only the existence, but the 
influence of that church of which the Master said, "Whosoever 
killeth you, will think that he doeth God service : " still kept by God 
unto the day of deliverance, as zealous, as numerous, as much 
opposed to Rome, and more true, and more religious than the 
Protestant churches of the present day. 

We look in the world for them, but they are gone ; their kingdom 
was not of this world. We still hear the prayers which they uttered 
in the vales of Piedmont ; we still listen to the hymns which they 
sung : but their history was destroyed by Rome, their bodies were 
burned, and their ashes enriched the fields of Europe, while they 
live in the general assembly and church of the First Born in the 
kingdom of heaven. 

Thus also, unless otherwise determined by God, may a future 
generation contemplate the Protestant Christians of the present day. 
The time may come, when it shall not be the year of our Lord 1855, 
in the United States of America, but when it shall be A.D. 18,555 : 
and the student, while turning over the musty pages of ancient 
history, searching for traces of the true church in our day, may read 
in some " orthodox history " as follows : 

The beginning of the 16th century marked the rise of several 
heretical sects whose creeds were as diverse and novel as the circum- 
stances which gave them birth. They were led on by such opposers 
of the Catholic religion as Luther,' Calvin, Wesley, and others. 
Some held to the doctrine of fate, and others, free will; but they 
were remarkable for nothing, so much as their opposition to each 
other. The English and United States governments, for a time, 
afforded them protection; but on the final subjugation of those 
nations to the Roman pontiff, those pestilential sects were broken 
up, their books and history destroyed, and the world rid of their 
contentions and clamors. 

Such may be the precious paragraph which alone shall inform the 
student of future generations, that such sects as now rejoice in an 



82 SUMMERBELL A3STD WRITINGS 

existence of from one to three hundred years have been : for such 
sects will perish, as have those of the Dark Ages. 

Zeal may promote success ; but truth must give permanence. No 
denomination can be permanent unless it adopts those unquestion- 
able principles which all admit are eternal. Such are those of the 
Christians : 

1. The Bible our rule of faith. 

2. Christian character the only test of fellowship. 

3. Christian our only name. 

These I pronounce eternal principles, which must remain. Creeds 
may fail, sectarian tests fail, and names be forgotten, but the Bible, 
Christian character, and the Christian name, like gold tried in the 
fire, are refined by flames but not consumed. 

Let us be truly Protestants, not barely reformed Papists. When 
the priest said to the Protestant, ' ' Where was your religion before 
Luther? " he replied, " Where was your face before it was washed?" 
The Papist was silenced; but the Protestant confessed that his. 
creed was reformed popery, the Roman religion with its face washed. 

Such is not the correct view of Protestantism. My prayer to God 
is that it may wash that face with nitre, eat it with caustic, salivate 
it with mercury, and consume it with sulphuric acid, until its Roman 
features are destroyed, its teeth fall out, and the lakt stain spot of 
the "Dark Ages 1 ' is gone. Let us have a Protestantism which en- 
lightens the masses by the universal spread of the Scriptures, and 
honors the Bible by abandoning the traditions of men. 

The peculiar features of sectarianism are vanishing, but whether 
the Christians shall be a greater blessing, may depend in some 
measure upon our exertions. 

The remarkable coincidence in the reorganization of the Christian 
church in this country, at the close of the 1,260 years of her wilder- 
ness state, in three distinct parts of the United States, remotely 
situated from each other, adopting the same principles and contend- 
ing for the same truths, without any knowledge of each other, has 
led some to suppose that her rise was a fulfillment of prophecy, and 
many of our first ministers labored with a zeal and devotion to the 
cause only equaled by such.strong faith in God. 

In the organization of churches upon the original basis, there were 
many difficulties to encounter. People had become so habituated to 
the doctrines and commandments of men that they hardly regarded 
an apostolical church as safe. It was supposed by many that with- 
out those modern improvements called creeds no church could exist. 
Forgotten or overlooked was the fact that all those creeds and dis- 
ciplines were modern improvements, unknown to the apostles or the 
primitive church ; and men really fancied, or seemed to fancy, either 
that Christ and his apostles were Presbyterians, Baptists, or Metho- 
dists, with some Calvinistic creed or free-will discipline ; or that the 



ANNUAL ADDRESS 83 

primitive church was not orthodox : at all events they regarded those 
additions to the Christian system as the only true foundation to 
build upon. Also it was considered absolutely necessary to be a 
follower of some human leader : for the people had been so long used 
to popes and class-leaders and sect-builders, that they hardly sup- 
posed that they had a right to their freedom; but like bondmen, 
long accustomed to the yoke, turned instinctively to some religious 
overseer, seeming to say, Please to appropriate me, sir; liberty's 
domain is too large for me ; please to throw around me your sectional 
lines and separate me from the multitudes of Israel. Even many 
ministers, after toiling long in the battles of freedom, when they saw 
that the proud were happy, and that those who exalted themselves 
were established, became denominationally discouraged, and bring- 
ing their liberties they willingly resigned them, and laid them upon 
oppression's altar, saying : 

Put me into the priest's office, and give me a piece of bread, a 
' golden wedge and Babylonish garment, ' and I will be yours, and you 
shall own me ; I will go where you command me ; I will do what you 
bid me ; I will preach the creed you offer me ; I will be yours, and 
you shall govern me; I will resign my birthright for a mess of pot- 
tage : for why should I die ? 

Nor were these things regarded as contrary to the doctrine of 
Christ, nor at all unreasonable, for sect-building had become so 
common that most people, and especially the priests, regarded all 
who simply believed the Bible and followed Christ, as unappro- 
priated material, stray property, or in the view of shepherds, as 
stray lambs, or sheep, to be gathered into some denominational fold. 
Oftentimes, indeed, great contentions arose, who should possess the 
living child ; and, no Solomon deciding, it was torn asunder by con- 
tending factions. Where Christians with perseverance withstood 
their importunity and retained their liberty, spiritual terrors de- 
nounced by antiquated creeds were made use of. Great leaders were 
commended to them, or eligible places in popular churches were 
offered to them, and in discarding these they had much to encounter : 

1. In rejecting popular theories, they lost the sympathy of the 
religious world. 

2. They encountered also a well organized opposition. 

3. The prejudice of the worl'd was arrayed against them. 

4. The cry was raised that they denied the divinity of Christ, 
and the uninformed frequently believed it. 

5. And misrepresentations of their principles were industriously 
and widely circulated. 

6. Sermons were preached against them, by which the ignorant 
were excited to abhor them. 

7. The education of youth was so guided as to create a prejudice 
against their views. 



84 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

8. The literature of the world was saturated with the most abu- 
sive misrepresentations. 

9. The press poured out books, pamphlets, and papers to hinder 
their progress. 

10. Some said that they held the Savior as a mere man. 

11. Others that they denied the atonement. 

But the ministers were zealous and faithful ; they were truly men 
of God, who had the worth of souls at heart. They were men who 
seem to have been providentially raised up for .the work. They 
were often men of gigantic frames and vigorous constitutions, who 
never faltered in the path of duty. They were men of more than 
ordinary intellect, fully capable both of preaching and defending 
their principles. Their congregations were large, and constant re- 
vivals followed their labors. We yet find their footprints in every 
part of our country, and we read their epistles written in the hearts 
of men, as we listen to aged people who describe the preaching of 
Smith, Jones, O'Kelly, and Clough, or Shaw, Badger, Purviance, 
and Kincaid. They were persecuted, but their godly lives bore 
down all opposition. They planted churches, established periodicals, 
founded schools, published many excellent theological works, and 
finally established both a name and a place in our country. When 
they began their work bigotry was popular, and exclusiveness the 
touchstone of orthodoxy. They began by proclaiming charity, and 
it was theirs first to establish religious freedom. Theirs was the 
first religious newspaper in the United States, the Herald of Gospel 
Liberty, and its name denotes its character. They accomplished 
their work, and went to their reward. 

Here we pause. This description we have pursued sufficiently 
long, for in this world there is no unmixed good but has its evil near. 

There were other men, whom I will call a second class, not so 
much because subsequent to the first in point of time, as behind 
them in usefulness ; they knew not their spirit. Other ' ! kings arose 
who knew not Joseph." These men never understood the Christians' 
work. They inherited the place of the first without their prudence, 
and stood in their ranks without knowing their spirit. The former 
commenced the work on a scale commensurate with its importance, 
and were everywhere for building up. The latter were satisfied 
with small things, or even to return to the country whence they 
came out. They were governed by impulse without wisdom ; they 
opposed the evil without securing the good; they labored for, but 
consumed the life's blood of, the denomination. 

They found cos.tly temples without God, and they worshiped God 
but despised his temples. And they reaped their reward ! 

They found learned ministers without religion, and they coveted 
an earnest and religious ministry without learning, And they 
reaped their reward ! 



AN EARNEST CHURCH AND MINISTRY 85 

They found houses owned by sects, rejecting ministers of Christ 
from their pulpits; and they would own no houses, all should be 
common. And they have their reward ! 

They found other denominations conservatively sectarian, caring 
more to gain members and build up their denominations than for 
God and his glory, and they would not proselyte nor build up, but 
cultivate charity for all denominations but their own. And they 
have their reward ! 

Their disregard of temples lost them their congregations. Their 
carelessness of education deprived them of learning. Their contempt 
for a learned ministry drove them from cities and villages. Their 
houses built for the public lost them their churches. While their 
anti-denominational, latitudinarian liberality, loosened every con- 
servative bond of union, until, to rail at the Christians was the best 
proof of charity, and to join sectarian churches the final proof of an 
anti-sectarian spirit. They were men who sought in religion its 
enjoyment without its duties, and selfish happiness without the 
cross. They enjoyed the means of grace, without the gracious 
sacrifice. Fruit was gathered, but trees were not planted. They 
reaped without sowing, and gathered without strowing. The first 
held heavenly principles, and God owned them ; they were true to 
God, and God strengthened them; they were spiritual, and God 
blessed them; they were faithful, and God rewarded them. Had 
those who succeeded them been able to follow up the work in the 
same spirit, and with the same power, churches would now be found 
in every city in our union, and thousands of members, who have 
been commended or abandoned to the sects, and have poured their 
wealth into their coffers, and swelled their ranks, would now have 
been in our communion. Thus, while they rejoiced in happy feel- 
ings, and avoided the strife of conflict, through lukewarmness they 
lost the source of enjoyment; they drank at the stream till the 
fountain became dry. They paid little to build temples, less to 
support the ministry, nothing to send out missionaries, and nothing 
for schools; hence children grew up uneducated, the best sites for 
churches were lost, houses went to decay, and ministers abandoned 
the field. New fields of labor were not cultivated; but they had 
wealth without liberality, riches without education, the best church 
privileges without appreciating them, and the best advantages with- 
out improving them. 

The consequence was spiritual declension, and denominational 
lukewarmness; until he was counted a leader who would brand 
revival as fanatical excess, and denominational zeal as sectarian 
bigotry. Our periodicals maintained but a consumptive life, sup- 
ported grudgingly at one-half the price of other papers. Books fell 
dead from the press ; institutions of learning received so little sup- 
port or encouragement as to fall under the control of other denomi- 



OO STJMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

nations; ministers were engaged annually, and visited the congrega- 
tions monthly. If the church-books were not well understood by 
each new shepherd, or if he could not count all the sheep in the 
neighborhood, the church was reorganized, receiving into the new, 
and, I will add, factional fellowship, only those who presented them- 
selves in person. Thus the best members were often disgusted and 
lost to the church, and the church often entirely broken up ; while 
ministers themselves received such a precarious support that they 
were forced to abandon the field to maintain their families. The 
young men were prevented from entering for want of encouragement. 

There was no zeal. Rich congregations were satisfied to meet in 
antiquated temples, to hear monthly sermons, and enjoyed religion 
without Sunday schools, often bestowing less care on the house of 
God than they did upon their barns. Men grew rich under Gods 
blessing, without blessing God with their riches ; as Lazarus at the 
gate of the "rich man," so the church lay at the gate of the rich 
members— impoverished, sick, and at the mercy of sinners, while its 
members amassed wealth, built palaces, and, clothed in purple and 
fine linen, fared sumptuously every day. 

If churches were planted, it was not done by missionary effort, as 
in other denominations, but by the personal zeal of the preacher, few 
churches supposing that duty required them to do more than by a 
grudging pittance to raise enough to keep up monthly preaching. 
For this often a mere widow's mite was given out of their abundance 
not a tithe of what the minister sacrificed monthly. There was such 
faith, hope, and charity in and for other denominations, that there 
was no great desire to extend the gospel in every land, no desire to 
plant Sunday-schools or churches. But lukewarm editors openly 
counseled our members, on removing to distant neighborhoods, not 
to secure preaching, etc., but to unite with the sects in order to avoid 
sectarianism ; and the members sent their children to Sunday schools 
to study catechisms and Calvinism, sooner than start Christian Sun- 
day schools, lest they should be thought sectarian! Money was 
often poured into the treasuries of others to build houses, deeded 
to priests and bishops, while their own houses were allowed to go so 
far to decay that only the ancient . of the people assembled in them, 
while their children assembled in costly edifices built by their fathers' 
munificence, where their faith was misrepresented and their own 
church anathematized. To submit to this state of things without a 
murmur was considered very Christian, but to object to it was such 
sectarian bigotry as could hardly be tolerated. 

Within a few years the tide has been turning ; a spirit of greater 
liberality in the support of the gospel has found its way into our 
churches. The consequence has been a revival of denominational 
interest ; churches have come back from the rural districts to cities 
and villages ; educated men have sought a home among us ; congre- 



ANNUAL ADDRESS 87 

gations have abandoned the annual election of pastors, and stated 
pastors have been settled, who are receiving a sufficient support and 
are enabled to devote all their time to their charges ; Sunday schools 
have been organized in most of our congregations; missionary so- 
cieties are becoming common; our periodicals are removed from 
under the control of men opposed to denominational sympathy ; one 
of the finest institutions of learning ever erected has been established 
in the bounds of this conference, and hundreds of our children are 
attending it ; more respect is shown to places erected for the worship 
of God, and many very fine edifices, have gone up. 

We exhort our brethren to go on, and push forward the noble work 
of reform. Fear not, falter not; the world is before you, the fields 
are all white and ready for the harvest. And while creed religion is 
falling, a Bible religion is everywhere demanded. 

Our principles commend themselves to all rational people, and all 
that is needed in order to their universal acceptance is faithfulness 
in their support. In every city, village, and town in our Union 
there is work for the Christian minister. Everywhere is the cry 
raised, "Come over and help us;" and never was there a time when 
there was such a demand for Christian churches as the present. . 

The future is promising ; but it requires persevering eff ort. The 
diligent man is the successful man; the greatest geniuses are the 
greatest laborers. Faith and works are the avenue to success. 
"Depend on Providence, and keep your powder dry," was the word 
of the greatest man England ever knew; and "Jupiter helps those 
who help themselves," said the observing heathen. 

We have much to encourage us. Our creed is not the exotic relic 
of some barbarous age, but the daguerreotype of heavenly truth. 
That there is one God, the Father ( I. Cor. 8:6); that Jesus Christ 
is the Son of God (John 20 : 31) ; that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of 
God (Gen. 1:2), are truths not to be disputed nor overthrown, but 
so plainly laid down in the Bible as to need no proof, whilst the most 
abundant testimony is at hand. We know that whatever may be 
our comparative success, yet before the millennial state, before God's 
kingdom can come, or his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, 
those principles must universally prevail. We also know that ours 
is a faith which is not to be changed by death, but 

"The God we worship now 
Will guide us till we die, 
Will be our God while here below, 
And ours above the sky." 

Be earnest then ! Christ has given us a large field. Our circuit 
may extend over 24,000 miles in circumference; our congregations 
may be gathered from 900,000,000 of people; the sins we are to 
contend against are as universal as humanity ; yet the grace we offer 



88 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

is more abounding than sin ; the baptismal waters encompass two- 
thirds of our globe ; and the truths we teach are eternal. The work 
is before us, and the Master calls to duty. 

Ministers must give greater attention to revivals. God's religion 
has always been a religion of revivals. They may be ridiculed by 
tne ungodly, despised by the unconverted professor, and feared by 
the lukewarm; but "refreshing" seasons from the presence of the 
Lord, times of reformation, and revivals of God's work, are such 
biblical terms and convey such biblical truths, that to deny them is 
little else than opposition to religion. We must never give up re- 
vivals ; we must not countenance the practice of those who call them 
fanatical meetings, and despise them. We may have fanaticism 
with revivals, and we may have it without revivals; but one thing 
is certain, that God's church, from time immemorial, has enjoyed 
revivals; that the apostolic church had revivals; that the Roman 
Catholic Church had no revivals, but that the Protestant Church had 
revivals. Labor for revivals, pray for revivals, preach for revivals, 
and live for revivals; and when God blesses you he will give you 
revivals. 

But in order to increase our usefulness we must cultivate more 
religion. Preachers and people must strive for a deeper work of 
grace. More attention must be given to prayer — prayer in the 
private closet, prayer in the family, prayer in the prayer-meeting. 
• The earnest and devoted ministry will be felt in the world. A 
minister's usefulness, so far from being confined to the pulpit, may 
be annihilated both in the pulpit and out of it, unless he is an earnest 
man in religion everywhere. If his own family is irreligious, he can 
have little influence upon other families. If his family does not 
attend church, if his children are not at Sunday school, his preaching 
is but idle declamation to the world, a mere beating the air ; and the 
better he is known (unless, some extraordinary circumstance alters 
the case) the less he will be respected. 

Let the family circle then be the first field of labor, and our own 
households the first churches we organize in God's service. 

Then will there be confession of former declension, a waking up 
on the part of the sleeping, zeal taking the place of lukewarmness, 
the house of God thronged with anxious worshipers, energetic and 
warm preaching, spiritual prayers and singing, hard hearts melting, 
sinners trembling, saints rejoicing, prodigals returning. Then re- 
ligion will be easy; saints will be liberal; better churches will be 
erected, and more of them; opposition will be overcome; meetings 
will be more frequent ; friends will be multiplied, churches strength- 
ened, and the cause of God will advance. Those neighbors who 
now oppose the church will become its brightest ornaments, children 
will be restored to their parents and parents to their children ; neigh- 
borhoods will be redeemed, and more done for the advancement of 



AN EARNEST CHURCH AND MINISTRY 89 

the cause of God and the good of man in one revival than in ninety 
and nine years of cold preaching. 

We speak of improvements in religion. I know that many fear 
expense, and are ready to sit down and count the cost ; and I am 
willing to acknowledge that religion costs something to keep up in 
a neighborhood ; but not half so much as real estate is increased in 
value by its promotion. "What was real estate worth in Sodom?" 
is a question which might be asked of many a Sodom, and also of 
those who grudgingly support religion, which promotes their hap- 
piness, safety, and salvation, and yet spend without stint for those 
things which degrade the manners and destroy the health without 
one redeeming virtue. Tobacco costs the United States more than 
all her religion ; rum costs her more than all her schools ; and more 
is paid for cigars than for books. Let us then not complain of the 
cost ; no neighborhood loses anything even in dollars and cents, by 
promoting religion. If we are poor, let us have more religion and 
less tobacco; more churches tind fewer rum taverns; more school 
books and fewer cigars. The money spent by the Christians in 
tobacco, besides the evil of defiling every dwelling house and every 
church, would, if turned to the service of God, sustain twelve 
foreign missionaries in distant climes. 

We must do more for the cause of God. We must make our 
religion a part of our business ; ministers must be settled with our 
churches, who are godly men, and will devote their whole time to 
their work. The work of the evangelist who goes from house to 
house must be prized more. Let the sermons be criticised less, and 
obeyed more ; let there be less seeking enjoyment in meetings, even 
less seeking blessings, and more seeking usefulness ; that you may be 
blest, not barely by happy excitement, but by winning souls to 
Christ. We must build better churches, and more of them ; that the 
day may not be far distant when we shall have a church — and a good 
one — in every village in our country. Be not afraid of building them 
too good; God is worthy of a good house to be worshiped in, and 
God's people are worthy of a good house to worship him in. We 
should prize our religion higher than our business. Our churches 
should be better furnished than our dwellings, and cleaner than our 
parlors. 

My faith in the divine mission of the Christians is unshaken. It 
seems to me that every step which any denomination, church, or 
individual, makes toward our principles, is a step which need never 
be retraced. That God looks on those principles approvingly, I have 
no doubt. They are divine and reasonable, charitable and concilia- 
tory, and those who have abandoned them must, should they be 
saved, eventually re-embrace them, for none others can obtain in a 
millennial state. But those who are blest to see the kingdom of God 
come, and his will done on earth as in heaven, will find C/wistia?i 



90 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the only name respected, God's word the only creed and discipline, 
God's Son our only Lord and Savior, and the communion of saints 
embracing all of Christian character. So that, though we should 
forsake these now, it would only be to re-embrace them in a more 
perfect state. Some think that we have anticipated a majestic 
world, in embracing, in advance, the millennial principles ; and that 
in the present undeveloped and un- Christianized state of the world 
we shall not be able to succeed. This may be so ; but, if necessary, I 
would far sooner wait for the coming up of the sublimely orthodox 
world, than to turn back from the truth already gained into the dark 
mazes of the past, to meet it. But we can neither ; we must go for- 
ward. As woodmen, we may blaze the trees to mark our pathway ; 
as. voyagers, we- may cast into the sea the sealed package, to be 
drifted by friendly winds in the way of some future traveler; as 
pilgrims, we may carve our name upon the flinty brow of some 
sterile rock for future emigrants to read ; but to turn back, we can- 
not. Had the pilgrims of old desired to return to the country from 
whence they came out, they might. have had opportunity; but "they 
desired a better country, that is an heavenly; wherefore God was 
not ashamed to be called their God, for he had prepared for them a 
city. " So neither can we turn back ; but say to any who may be so 
kind as to invite us, "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, 
for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. " 

Be faithful, ye young men, and fight the good fight of faith; your 
fathers are leaving to you a glorious heritage. Receive the boon 
presented to you by the trembling hand of declining age, in grateful 
hearts and willing hands, and carry forward the well-begun work. 
Do not find fault that they have not done more, but rather show 
how much farther you can carry the work. It is said of Alexander 
that he even wept at the successes of his father, lest he should leave 
no labors for his son. Have those of the hoary locks and furrowed 
cheeks left a work for you, young men, rejoice that the opportunity 
is yours to perform it, and "quit yourselves like men." Be firm and 
stable ; let come what will, be true. We need men in the ministry 
now who can breast the storm. We have left, I trust forever, the 
port of inactivity, and the far off shores have faded from our sight. 
The broad ocean of intellectual thought surrounds us on every side, 
and ten thousand enemies watch our course. Popery ever and anon 
rears its broad crest and darts its forked tongue at us. Sectarianism 
clashes its antagonistic elements, all harmonious against the truth. 
Infidelity turns back to old antiquity, and quotes again, "Ye shall 
not surely die," but shall be "wise," "like gods," and spurns the 
gospel and repentance, and talks of Christ's mistakes. These, with ten 
thousand other foes, you must learn to meet, and learn to conquer. 

Be strong! be firm! turn not with every wind of doctrine, but 
stand amid the storm like men. Let come what may, be men! 



RESIGNATION AT CINCINNATI 91 

Seek not the smile of mortals like yourself, nor fear their frown, nor 
feel that you are weak because they aid you not. Put your trust in 
God, and he will be with you ; go forth to save a lost and ruined 
world, and God will prosper you. 

And now, ye aged fathers, a word to you ! to you — but some are 
gone. From those hoary heads some are absent, ministers and lay- 
men. One who long held a chief place in your assemblies, ever true 
as ever qualified ; one, a soldier of many a hard fought battle in his 
country's cause, one who has presided over your deliberations, and 
aided in your counsels, one long an ornament to society and a pillar 
in the church, eminent as a jurist, moral reformer, and Christian 
gentleman, is gone. Judge Servis is gone to the church above ; his 
silver locks will no more grace our assemblies, nor his council cheer 
and strengthen the young men, or comfort the fathers. Be faithful, 
ye aged sires, to the grace already given. We look to you for 
counsel, and pray that you, our earthly fathers, may be blessed by 
the eternal Father of us all. Yours has been the cross, yours shall 
be the crown. One after another you will depart to your long looked 
for home, and other generations arise to fill your places. 

But the church shall last, its years shall not fail. 

And now, may God preside over our deliberations and grant us 
wisdom to direct us in the ways of truth during the present session. 
And when we are dismissed from our earthly conferences, may we 
meet hi the general assembly and church of the First Born, whose 
names are written in heaven. 

The Cincinnati church had now become an independent body, and 
there sprang up again the ambition of Summerbell to go west as a mis- 
sionary, supporting himself. He secured the finances of the church 
by getting various good subscriptions, covering all the obligations, 
placed the subscription in the hands of L. D. Robinson, the 
treasurer, and on Friday night handed in his written, positive resigna- 
tion. He preached on Sunday, and on Monday morning left at six 
o'clock for the west. 

At ten o'clock a committee arrived from Yellow Springs, Ohio, to 
secure him as pastor for the Yellow Springs church, that church having 
heard of the Friday night resignation. They claimed that Summerbell 
had given them reason to believe that when he left the Cincinnati 
church he could be secured at Yellow Springs. He had not regarded 
this as a promise, but the Yellow Springs brethren so considered it. 
Immediately letters were sent to him in the west, and on his return 
representations of the needs of the Yellow Springs church induced him 
to defer his western missionary enterprise. 

To this result he was moved in part, as though God were leading, by 
his disappointment in his western trip in being unable to locate land, 
the Government land offices being suddenly closed by orders from 
Washington. His land warrants were temporarily useless. Also, he 



92 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

had left some money at Chicago to pay for laud for which he had con- 
tracted in the suburbs of the city; but the timidity, or prudence of 
Thomas Harless, who was to pay the money for the land on the tender 
of the title, caused him to delay, in order to make examination ; the 
bold bargain of Summerbell was useless. The land is now worth mil- 
lions. These circumstances induced him to make contract with the 
Yellow Springs church. 

He preached a farewell sermon to the Cincinnati church, which 
breathed a tone of disappointment and sadness, in which he said, taking 
for his text II. Cor. 13 : 11, with many other things, the following words : 

This morning closes my ministry here. Five years ago I came 
to you, not to seek worldly good, but the good of the cause. We 
have had toil; but this has ever been the fate of the church; 
eighteen hundred years ago there were trials, but the church moved 
onward ; thousands were martyred, but the church moved onward. 

Though this church was organized many years ago, some of the 
original members still living, however, it has never been more pros- 
perous than now. When I came here five years ago, it was not 
believed you could keep a pastor. That impression is gone. It was 
not believed we could get a congregation. That impression is gone. 
One of the greatest difficulties to overcome was that the community 
had no confidence in the prosperity of the church. That impression 
is gone. 

Things have changed. That location was bad ; this is good. That 
house was poor; this is good. Then our friends were few, now they 
are many. Then we had little church property, now we are better 
off than many city churches. There is enough subscribed to pay the 
debt, our reputation is established, we have a good choir and a re- 
spectable congregation. 

During the five years I have been here you have had a hard 
struggle ; but I, though a stranger, have struggled with you. I have 
known where the money has come from to build ; a small portion 
only was raised in this church. Much of it was gathered from 
abroad, or solicited outside of the church. 

My visit to you has been like a storm to the sea — to disturb, to 
agitate, to raise money, to sell, to buy, to build, to move, to raise 
money, etc. 

But with you the struggle is about over, but not with me. You 
are about through; I go to commence, Y^our building is completed; 
I go to build. Your money is raised, or subscribed ; I go to raise 
money. You will worship in a finished house, I in a rough base- 
ment. While another preacher stands in this pleasant pulpit, I will 
stand on one of loose boards, with a rough plank for an altar, a rough 
board for a seat. I go to commence another struggle ; you rest. I 
go to the war ; you retire. 

Your trials have been hard with me, because you had not only to 
raise my support, but money to build ; now there is only the salary, 
the burden of building is past. 

Your condition as a church is improved; but mine is not, after five 
years of the best of my life, after five years of toil and anxiety, 
after five years of sacrifice. Many dollars have I spent for this 
church. Itere I have toiled with adversity ; and I now retire to no 
easy field, not bought off, as some have said, but again denying my 
self of ease, buckling on the armor for another campaign. 




Rev. N. Summerbell. 



FAREWELL TO CINCINNATI 93 

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. Strive for a high attain 
ment in grace. Christ's character is the foundation of his church 
(Mat. 16, etc.) Godliness will give character to you as individuals, 
and give you influence. Godliness will unite you in love, will 
increase faith and devotion, and will give character to the church. 

Be of good comfort. Trust in God. He has been with you. 
Neglect no duty ; be kind to all men ; love the brethren ; return good 
for evil; study the Bible more; pray more; attend, and aid the 
prayer-meeting ; labor in the Sunday school ; be faithful at church ; 
be of one mind ; let all your thoughts be to do good, to build up the 
church ; think well of each other ; encourage your minister. 

Live in peace. To do this, don't try to govern each other, nor to 
find fault, nor talk about each other, nor seek revenge, nor seek to 
justify self. And the God of love and peace shall be with you. God 
will be with you here, and when you meet at home, in sickness and 
in death. 

I now bid you farewell, resigning the church to your care. For 
five years it has been my care, every Sunday, every week. I now 
leave it with you. 

It is precious. Will you guard it? 

It has cost years of toil. Will you protect it? 

It is your own cause. Will you love it? 

It is your Savior's cause. Will you be true to it? 

If you fall out, the enemy will rejoice in it. "Our foes will re- 
joice when our sorrows they see," and smile. Let self be nothing 
and the cause be everything, and God will reward you. 

Look to the church as the representative church of Christ, the 
only one in a western city. Will you neglect it? No! Will you 
let it go down? No! Let these walls constantly resound with 
thanksgiving. 

"And when the lips that with God's name 
Are vocal now, to dust shall turn, 
On others may devotion's flame 
Be kindled here, and purely burn." 

May you see sinners converted, these aisles crowded, your children 
taking your places, and as you pass away one after another by 
death, may a new generation carry to a higher state of perfection 
the religion of Christ here. 

And when you sit under the dews* of God's grace, remember me. 

Farewell. 

He was emphatically a man of faithfulness. And yet he was dis- 
criminating in his condemnation of treason. I find the following scrap 
among his papers : 

Judas was not base enough for some things. There is an abyss 
below a Judas. Had he been as vile as some, he might by false testi- 
mony have lighted a flame of persecution which would, without 
God's powerful intervention, have destroyed the apostles and the 
infant church, and his name would have been quoted against Jesus 
to the end of time. But he did not, though -he served his purse, 
added thirty pieces of silver temporarily to his fortune, made his 
peace with the popular party, and forsook the infant church forever. 
God restrains even the wrath of the wicked. 



94 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

I 

He removed to Yellow Springs, Ohio, in August, 1855, at a salary of 
$600 per year, expressly contracting that his engagement was to last 
only nine months. The church building was unfinished, the congre- 
gation worshiping in the basement. It was then one large room, 
including the whole first floor. He labored until the spring, adding 
more than forty members to the church, securing the completion of the 
building, and started again on his missionary enterprise. 

The following extract from a letter from Mrs. Sarah King Maxwell to 
Mrs. E. J. Summerbell, throws light on the private life of N. Sum- 
merbell : 

A kind of jolly time, a season not bad to look back upon ; something 
like that of " hanging the pictures " in your parlor in Cincinnati. You 
remember how the doctor pretended to scold me for my awkwardness, 
and when you came to my assistance, how he said, "I can get along all 
right with 'Phemie ' when she is alone, but both of you are too much," 
in the most injured tone, while his twinkling eye told his words came 
only from the teeth out. . . . 

You remember how fond father was of Mary, then Joseph and Than- 
nie — their friendship was pleasant to behold. One picture is indelibly 
impressed upon my memory. The view was from your parlor window 
on Dayton street, from which place we were watching them going down 
the street. Joseph had his arm on Thannie's shoulder, and they were 
so busy talking they seemed oblivious of all that was passing around 
them. Brother Summerbell remarked : 

" I would like to know what those boys are talking about ; some grave 
subject, from their appearance — nothing sad,, understand me, for I con- 
sider them two happy boys." 

Their enjoyment of each other's society always seemed to please him. 
Their boyish pranks were never criticised unkindly. 

The doctor told me some very improbable incident one day, and 
when I expressed my doubts of* its truthfulness, he made some move- 
ment which attracted my attention to the fact that his hand was 
pointing over his left shoulder, and said, "'Over the left,' as the boys 
say." Then I knew that it was all in fun. 

It was this familiar, easy way with the young people that attached 
them so to him, and gave him that influence over them. Those young 
people's prayer-meetings in your parlor were the first meetings of the 
kind I really enjoyed. Your words of cheer and helpful hints made it 
so easy for us all to do a little something for the sake of Jesus. Then in 
the doctor's invitations there was always something inspiring, some- 
thing that made one feel glad to say even one word. . . . Sometimes 
there would be two or three on the floor at once. You remember all this. 

I often think if other ministers would imitate Brother Summerbell in 
looking more after the spiritual growth of the young people in their 
flocks, there would not be so many attending dances and places of 
amusement that bring disgrace upon the church. . . . 

Yes, Sister Summerbell, you have been blessed in your children and 
in your husband. . . . He lived and loved that gospel more than almost 
any one I ever knew. His unostentatious, abundant generosity, his 
sincerity, his guilelessness, his simple, unwavering faith in the gospel 
he proclaimed and practiced, made him the leading man that he was. 

There was no time or season with him especially set apart for religious 
service; all times and seasons were alike with him; he was always 
ready for "a. word of. prayer." . . . "Let us have a word of prayer be- 
fore Sarah goes." 

Then would follow one of those pertinent prayers you so well remem- 
ber, brief, and right to the purpose; wherein I was especially committed 



LEAVING FOR MISSIONARY WORK 95 

to the care of the Lord in such a fervent, trustful spirit. The sweet 
words would come to me above the rumble of the rushing train, and a 
conscious feeling of security would make me even cheerful and happy, 
though the train was bearing me away from the dear home-nest at 
Yellow Springs, and from you, my sister. 

I have often thought of Mr. SumnierbelFs words once, when he in- 
sisted on seeing me on board the cars at Covington, Kentucky. I did 
not want him to take that trouble, for I knew how precious was every 
moment of his time. He silenced my objections by saying: 

"Your father would not let my Mary leave his house alone so early in 
the morning to cross this river, and I am not going to let his Sarah." 

Do you remember while we were still having services in the basement 
of the Christian church at Yellow Springs, one day a colored woman 
shouted and made much ado? Mr. Summerbell gave out the hymn, 
and the chorister gave us the pitch (we had no organ then), but we 
Yankee girls failed to respond, and Father Crist, who sat well up in 
front, "raised the tune." Mary Jew T ell and I took many a laugh over 
this. Mr. Summerbell looked at us as if he was ready to annihilate us ; 
and then laughed at us, when we said : 

"AVe didn't know as we ought to sing when the woman was shout- 
ing." 

He said, " That was the time you ought to have sung the loudest." 

As for myself, I had never heard any one shout in a Christian church 
in New York, and I was wholly at sea. 

When the time drew near for you to go to Des Moines, the people 
could not think of giving you up. The church had prospered under 
your united labors. And even after Mr. Summerbell's resignation had 
been accepted, church duties filled up your time till the very last. Just 
before your departure, you held what you supposed to be your last bap- 
tismal service, but at the request of Sister Jacobs, who was too ill to 
attend to the ordinance when the others were baptized, you postponed 
your journey, that she also might be baptized by Brother Summerbell, 

S. K. Maxwell. 

Thus did he arouse the love of those who knew him best. 

He was pastor at Yellow Springs, Ohio, till the spring of 1856. Dur- 
ing that time he was instrumental, in the hands of God, of bringing 
scores to Christ, and the church building was completed. 

At last the time came for him to succeed in his long-cherished dream 
of enteriug on self-supporting missionary work in the west. In the late 
spring of 1856 he started on a long ride, that he might see the country 
and determine his final location. He took his family in a wagon or car- 
riage specially built for his purposes, of light carriage running gears, with 
a box or bed built with doors in the sides; of such size that all, himself, 
wife, son, and daughter could ride comfortably by day, and at night, if 
there were need, could sleep at full length by making a few adjustments 
of baggage. The carriage was covered with the best cloth made at that 
time for buggies and carriages with extra wide laps, and the fiercest 
storms were passed in it, all of us being perfectly protected from the 
weather; an umbrella-like protection, at need, being lowered in front 
toward the horses. The protection was so perfect, and the appliances of 
all kinds so ample, the foresight as to needs so exact, that the family 
had not traveled long until every member of it earnestly wished to avoid 
"putting up" at hotels and private houses, and where there could be 
found the least pretext, we invariably "camped out." The horses were 



96 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

young and fast, and for the whole season, from May to October, the aver- 
age distance traveled per day was over forty miles. At three o'clock in 
the afternoon, it was SummerbelPs custom to look for a good stopping 
place for the night. It was a very enticing building and surroundings 
that could allure us from the camp, where we could be alone, where we 
could be cleanly, where we could do our own cooking (that is, " mother "), 
and where we felt safer than when lodging at hotel or house. As soon 
as a pretty grove could be found (the country then not being fenced in as 
now ) near to running water, with clean ground or grass, with retirement 
from the highway, we turned aside and prepared for the night, though 
early. Summerbell preached every Sunday moruing and night some- 
how, in the neighborhood of our camp, either at a schoolhouse, private 
house, or church. His second service would sometimes call together 
very large congregations, so that buildings would be taxed to accommo- 
date the people. 

As we look back on it, that season seems like a dream. Perhaps the 
family never passed so happy a time. They were with each other. They 
gained steadily in health and strength. Time had softened the grief at 
the departure of Charley. Mary was there to bless us with her childish 
prattle. Joseph was in a constant state of excitement at the possibilities 
of t*he hunt and at the success of his father in securing the game that 
abounded, by quick shots from the carriage, while the boy would be 
occupied in keeping the horses quiet. The gun earned much of our food, 
and, of course, we always considered what father shot the best,, Adven- 
tures of various kinds broke the monotony of the trip. One of these was 
spoken of by Summerbell himself in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of 
October 27, 1877: 

HAVE A LIGHT IN THE WINDOW. 

It was about 1856, on a prairie of Illinois, between the United States 
land-office at Danville, and Urbana, that an expert horseman turned 
toward his prairie home as he was leaving, and spake these words to his 
wife, and then galloped off over the wild meadow, called by the French 
name of prairie. I had been over the prairies before, from Kankakee to 
Wisconsin, but I never so realized prairie life as I did at that time. I 
was on my way west with my family. We drove a good team before a 
well-covered spring wagon, and had passed the land-office and were seek- 
ing the open prairie, when the same man, having been told that we had 
passed, followed hard in pursuit, and, after several miles chase, overtook 
us and constrained us to visit his prairie home and hold a few meetings. 
The prairie home of the preacher was humble but very attractive as it 
stood in bold relief in the midst of thousands of acres of unfenced and 
nnroaded meadow. His companion gave us a cordial welcome. We had 
dined a la picnic before he overtook us, but the preacher asked if we 
would have some fruit. We wondered where the fruit was to come 
from; but on bidding a girl (since a preacher) to bring us a plate of 
" prairie apples," the mystery was solved by the appearance of a plate of 
fine white turnips. Rested and refreshed, the preacher accompanied us 
to a distant neighborhood for meeting; and seeing that the night would 
be dark, and the time of his return late, and the way over the trackless 
prairie long, the preacher said, "Have alight in the window for me." 
We had a good meeting that night, and I trust that some, in effect, by 
prayer, said to the angels, u Have a light in the window for me, when I 



WESTWARD TRAVEL 97 

am to pass through the valley and the shadow of death." We lodged 
where we preached ; but the prairie preacher returned to his lone family 
by a long, dark way, guided partly by instinct, but finally by a light in 
the window. That pioneer preacher has led many to Christ, and, with 
his faithful companion, is still living, though aged and feeble. 
Was this Z. M. Wilkins? 

AVe never were in a strait for food, until in southern Iowa we came to 
a region where there had been a drouth. Corn was a dollar a bushel. 
In Chariton we were unable to buy flour or bread, and only secured 
some cornmeal by promising that we would not feed it to our horses. 
Summerbell drove rapidly out of the town for a mile or two, to a section 
of the road where there was a succession of houses and farms on the left 
hand side, while the right was open prairie. We were discouraged. 
The storekeepers in the village had insisted that food was very scarce in 
the whole country. The outlook was not promising, and it was the 
unanimous opinion that we must get out of that region as soon as we 
could after getting a supply of food. Summerbell told Joseph to get 
out, walk along the road ahead of the carriage, and ask at every house 
for bread. He began the work. At almost the first house, a sweet- 
faced woman came to the door, and Joseph said: 

"Can I buy some bread?" 

"Yes," she replied. 

"How much?" 

"Oh, as much as you want, likely." 

" Can I buy some pies and cakes too ? " 

"Yes; I think I can spare some." 

"May be, then, I can buy some butter? " 

"Yes; I can let you have some." 

Joseph was beside himself, and without waiting to complete his 
bargains, scampered back to the wagon, shouting as he approached : 

"There's a woman that has everything, and she will sell us any- 
thing." 

Of course, the mild rebuke given for coming back without bringing 
anything was lost in the strenuous and vehement recommendation of 
the boy to his father to buy everything the woman had. Summerbell 
was perfectly willing, and soon we had a supply of provisions of all 
kinds. We started on our way. There were signs of prairie chickens 
off to the right. Summerbell took his gun, and in a few minutes shot 
one, while the dog caught another in the grass before it seemed to 
become sufficiently frightened to take flight. We camped almost imme- 
diately, and had a dinger that Lucullus would have envied; we had good 
food, good health, good app^tes, good consciences, and good company. 

So the whole season was passed, with all kinds of adventures, except 
those that would injure or frighten us. The route traversed would be 
impossible to repeat; for Summerbell was free and felt so, to go as he 
pleased, and where he pleased. He zig-zagged through the land, or 
drove straight toward a distant point, according to his pleasure. There 
were no appointments ahead ; there were no claims behind. He was 



98 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

seeing the country, and looking for a point at which to locate for future 
service for his Master. The following points may give a vague idea of 
the general trend of the long ride: Yellow Springs and Dayton, in 
Ohio; Richmond, Indianapolis and Lebanon, in Indiana; Urbana, Dan- 
ville, Springfield, Jacksonville, Carbondale, Galesburg, and Peoria, in 
Illinois; Burlington, Otturnwa, Marietta, (where he found Judge Smith), 
Marshalltown, Iowa City, and Des Moines, in Iowa. 

At Des Moines we found an old friend who had been a member of 
the church at Cincinnati, Alexander Newman ; and at that city, then 
of 6,000 population, we closed our long ride, and Summerbell bought 
property and settled for his self-supportiug missionary work. It was 
not long till another former member of the Christians was found, 
regular services were established, which were in the courthouse, the 
schoolhouse, then in Savary Hall, until a church was built. In the 
first days, of course, services were held wherever an opening could be 
found. 

One one occasion Summerbell had an appointment at the residence of 
a Dr. Watson, later residing at Belief ontaine, Ohio, but then in East 
Des Moines. A Lewis Young, who had been a member of the Christian 
Church before removing to Iowa, and then living eleven miles north of 
the city, heard that a Summerbell, a Christian minister, was to preach 
on that Sunday morning in Des Moines. He came to the city, made 
rapid inquiry, and was first directed to a certain church, but soon 
quietly left the building before the speaker had reached his sermon, 
being satisfied that he could not be a Christian preacher. He was then 
directed to the courthouse, where his informant was positive that a man 
called a Christian preacher was to speak that day. When Young heard 
the preacher descant on the absolute necessity of immersion in water by 
a minister, if a man would be saved, he knew that could not be a 
Christian minister of the kind he was seeking. He left the courthouse 
disappointed. On making more inquiries he heard of the meeting at 
Dr. Watson's, and hurried thither, and entered while the preacher was 
yet in his sermon. He had heard only a few sentences, when he said to 
himself, This is the man. He remained to the end, made himself 
known, invited the preacher to the schoolhouse in his neighborhood, and 
that became a center whence the work radiated in various directions. 

The church later was organized in his neighborhood with eighty-eight 
charter members, and on the day of organization, thirty-two were bap- 
tized by Elder Summerbell in the beautiful stream near by. 

The following became locations of churches or points of preaching : 
Keelerville, Young's schoolhouse, Corydon, Polk City, and Swede 
Point (now Madrid), Rising Sun, the Huff Settlement, the Alban Settle- 
ment, etc. Some of these churches still survive, but some of them have 
passed away. The work constantly increased in effectiveness and in- 
fluence during the years Summerbell remained at Des Moines. 

The church in the city itself passed away; its death-blow being given 
by a pastorate of one of the " wandering stars," elected pastor, who had 
no early sympathy with the Christians, but worked with us holding his 



FRONTIER MISSIONARY WORK 99 

sectarian doctrines and practicing the ways of worldly finance; in shoit 
he was a doctrinal and financial fraud. 

Elder Summerbell dedicated the church at Washington Grove, Illinois, 
in the winter of 1856, making his way from Des Moines to the most 
western railroad poiut, Iowa City, through one of the greatest snow- 
storms known. The distance for the stage-coach to transport the pas- 
sengers to Iowa City was one hundred and twenty miles. It was usually 
traversed in twenty-four hours, the "stage" running day and night. 
But in this storm drivers refused to go on without the urging of the pas- 
sengers, and at last the refusal was point blank until a purse was made 
up to give extra compensation. It is needless to say that Summerbell,- 
who had the appointment in Illinois, was the leading spirit in inducing 
the drivers to go on. The time consumed in reaching Iowa City was four 
or five times that usual for the trip. 

This missionary work was not done with no suffering. One winter 
cornmeal made our only bread, and wild plums saved in water our best 
preserves. The son, of twelve years, secured fuel by cutting it out of 
stumps, while the father traversed the prairies. Mother took care of 
the family at home, wrapping potatoes in blankets to keep them from 
freezing, and filling cracks in the siding with wadding, to keep out the 
cold and to prevent the blowing out of the light, as had happened from 
the wind through the cracks before they were stopped. 

Extremes of heat and cold, or severe storms, would not detain Sum- 
merbell from his appointments. Rev. Samuel O. Calvin relates that one 
morning in Iowa he and Summerbell started to go to Swede Point when 
the mercury was 36° below zero. On their way they saw steers and 
hogs, frozen to death, lying in the yards where they had died. 

Summerbell had this experience once in crossing a stream, Wal- 
nut Creek, when the forward part of his buggy was separated from 
the rear by the body's being lifted from the front axletree by the 
water, the old-fashioned king-bolt being drawn out. In the efforts to 
recover the rear part of the buggy, Elder Summerbell having been 
dragged out by the lines, the horse swam across the stream seven times ; 
and only after being dragged through the water repeatedly Mas Sum- 
merbell able to recover his buggy. Then he was compelled to go 
without dry clothing a number of miles before he reached a house. The 
season was spring, and there was ice floating in the water. 

In the midst of all his physical work, his mental abilities w T ere emi- 
nent. In controversy he was extremely brilliant and good-natured. 

Elder Calvin gives the following as churches established bj^ Elder 
Summerbell in his four years' residence in Iowa : Des Moines, Young's, 
Corydon, Polk City, Hanover, Huff Settlement, Sugar Grove ( in Dallas 
County), Swede Point (?), Skunk River, and one in Marshall Count}'. 

Brother Calvin had removed to Des Moines in the fall of 1857, arriving 
on Sunday night. He relates the following : — 

He made a visit with Summerbell out in the prairie, six miles west 
of Des Moines. Elder Summerbell preached to a large congregation, 
and "gave an invitation." Four men came forward and war.! 

Loft, 



100 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

attend to the ordinance of baptism that night. Elder Summerbell told 
them to get ready, he would baptize them " the same hour of the night." 
Teams were prepared, the young men got hickory bark and made torches 
to light the company to the water, going about two miles to a beautiful 
place on Walnut Creek, not wide, but deep, where elm trees locked their 
limbs through each other over the stream. The torches made the place 
as light as day; the scene was beautiful, the singing was "heavenly," 
both at the water and on the way home. 

Said Elder Summerbell, "Now, Brother Calvin, I have done what I 
have longed to do ; that is, I have gone to the water side and baptized 
' the same hour of the night.' " 

The following is an outline of the sermon from the text, Genesis 28: 17, 
which he preached at the dedication of the small church building 
erected in the city of Des Moines : 

This church, which has erected this house, is known as the First 
Christian Church in Des Moines, and is composed of about thirty 
families in the city, together with numbers scattered beyond the city 
limits. 

It was organized by the present pastor August 31, 1856. The 
first families embraced in its communion were those of N. Summer- 
bell, pastor ; A. Newman and G. Scott, deacons ; P. M. Scott, Robert 
Deacons, John Williams, and Lewis Young — in all, seven families. 
Of these, three resided distant from the city, and one was the family 
of the pastor, leaving but three, really, as composing the church : A. 
Newman's, Greenup Scott's, and P. M. Scott's. Of the three famihes 
residing out of the city, John Williams died on a visit to the east ; 
Robert Deacons has removed south; and Lewis Young and his 
family, with others, about eighty -six in number, and all members of 
this church, were organized into a separate church about a year 
since. The three families residing in the city remain as at first, and 
are the heaviest subscribers to the present building. 

Weekly prayer-meetings were immediately established, and a Sun- 
day school organized the following November, of which Samuel O. 
Calvin was chosen superintendent. 

The whole number added to the church during the three years is 
about 266. Of these, however, many have been organized into 
other churches in the country, and others reside beyond the city 
limits, leaving only sixty in the "city. 

The words of my text, "This is none other but the house of God, 
and this is the gate of heaven," are the words of Jacob, the son of 
Isaac, and grandson of Abraham, spoken while, an exile from his 
father's house, he pursued his lone way a journey of six hundred 
miles to seek a home and refuge from the fury of an angry brother. 

His father, not knowing the mind of God, and preferring the valiant # 
and bold bearing of Esau, Jacob only obtained the blessing, his of 
right and his of purchase, by guile ; when, to save his life, his mother 
sent him from home for "one year." Only "one year" thought the 






DEDICATION SERMON 101 

fond mother. But that year was prolonged to twenty years, and 
Rebecca saw her loved Jacob no more. 

At night, houseless, homeless, weary, sad, and lonely, the exile sank 
to rest in the desert, with the earth for his bed and a stone for his pillow. 

But he was not alone. The God of Isaac watched over his child, 
and the Lord's eye was upon his chosen one. In his sleep he saw a 
vision, and behold ! a ladder set upon the earth, and its top reached 
to heaven. Upon its steps angels were ascending and descending, and 
above stood the Lord. Then the loneliness of the exile departed, and 
he said, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the 
gate of heaven." 

How appropriate to us are these words to-day ! As Jacob, so have 
we been cut off by persecution ; like him we have wandered lonely 
and sad; and like him we can say this day, " This is none other but 
the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. " 

Then let us come to the house of God, as Christian pilgrims come. 
"The God you love will meet us here, hell make this house his 
home. " 

We have chosen the above words for our text, not only because the 
circumstances were typical, but because we think that no words 
better express the design of the builders of this house than these: 
Not only that this should be the house of God in the light of God's 
being its proprietor, but that it may be God's house as being the place 
where he shall be pleased to dwell and make his presence known; 
where God's family shall meet ; where his spirit shall abide ; where 
his table shall be spread ; and where his blessings shall be dispensed : 
that it shall not only be the house of God, but it shall be none other 
but the house of God ; devoted to no purposes but those of his religion, 
to no law but that of his word, upholding no institutions but those of 
his house — "none other but the house of God," from which none of 
his children can be turned away ; none other but the house of God 
and the gate of heaven. 

"Gate of heaven" is a phrase full of meaning. It is the way to 
heaven ; it is the entrance to heaven ; it is very near to heaven. Such 
may this church be to us and all who come within its walls. May 
we feel that it is the way to heaven. Here may souls be converted, 
here may sins be pardoned, here robes be washed and made white in 
the blood of the lamb. Here may all be pointed to the Lamb of God, 
that taketh away the sins of the world. 

May we feel that it is the entrance to heaven; as being heaven, 
begun on earth. 

Hence, we should try here to cultivate heavenly principles and do 
God's will on earth as it is done in heaven. We should strive to live 
here as anticipating our heavenly life. Let our conversation be in 
heaven; let us set our affections on things above and lay up our 
treasures there. 



102 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

We should possess the spirit of heaven, and cultivate the peace of 
heaven, and imitate the character of heaven, and strive to live here 
as we expect to live in heaven. 

We will then endeavor to improve the great truths of the text by 
considering further — 

THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AND THE SUBSEQUENT CHANGES. 

The first church, organized by our Lord and Savior eighteen hun- 
dred years ago, we consider the true model of all Christian churches. 
It was distinguished from all other religious institutions by the same 
peculiarities which give identity to the church meeting in this house. 

1. They were called Christians. 

2. They looked to no sacred books for their authority, or guid- 
ance, creed, confession, or discipline, but the Bible. 

3. They had no leader but Christ: not even recognizing such 
inspired apostles as Paul, Apollos, or Cephas, as leader. 

4. And they fellowshiped all Christians. 

5. In their worship they confessed — I record it in their own 
language — they confessed "but one God, the Father," whom they 
styled "the only true God." 

6. The Savior they called not "very man," or "God-man," but 
the "Son of God," "by whom God made the worlds." He was not 
of the earth, earthy, but the Lord from heaven. 

7. The Holy Spirit they regarded as the Spirit of God. They 
did not restrict its power, but, while it was promised unto them and 
their children and unto all that are afar off, they believed that it was 
to reprove the world — convince the world of sin, of righteousness, 
and of judgment. 

8. They regarded the atonement as something received by men, 
and not by God, saying, ' ' By whom we have also now received the 
atonement.'' 

9. All who believed and obeyed the gospel they counted Chris- 
tians. 

10. And baptized persons after they were converted, in rivers, 
or where there was much water, burying them with the Lord by 
baptism. 

11. But never rejecting any child of God, on account of lack of 
baptism, or weakness of faith. 

12. They had no human creeds, no party names, no human laws, 
no human leaders. They organized no sects, but lived in love, 
cultivated charity, and endeavored to walk in the footsteps of the 
Son of God. 

Such was the church of the first three hundred years of the Chris- 
tian era, of which we shall say more in the sequel. 

In A. D. 325 the Roman Church was organized, sustained by the 
Roman government. 



FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECIES 103 

In A. D. 381 armies began to be employed to drive the Christians 
from their churches, and to subdue Christian governments. 

By A. D. 540 the Roman Church was permanently established, 
and the wilderness state of the church commenced. 

In the 16th century, whole nations left the Roman Church, and 
were organized into Protestant sects. 

In A. D. 1800 churches on the original platform were organized 
in the United States, holding all the principles of the primitive 
Christians. 

They abandoned all the doctrines and commandments of men, and 
fell back upon the pure word of God, with no name but Christian, 
no creed but the Bible, and no test of fellowship but holiness. 

Many regarded the organization of such a church as providential, 
and a fulfillment of prophecy, from the following considerations : 

The church was to be in a wilderness, or scattered state, 1260 
years, and these years were fulfilled. During the 1260 years multi- 
tudes of sects had arisen, and legions of creeds had been framed ; but 
none had taken the Bible alone, Christ alone, the Christian name 
alone, or extended fellowship to all Christians. But at the very time 
the wilderness state of the church expired, the Christians organized 
churches, embracing all those primitive principles. 

This is strengthened by the consideration of the remarkable 
coincidence of principles : The Bible might have been chosen alone, 
without the Christian name ; or Christ .alone, without f ellowshiping 
all; or the Christian name alone, without taking the Bible alone, etc. 
But there was the union of all the leading principles of a millennial 
church. The Bible the only book, Christ the only leader, Christian 
the only name, and the fellowship of all Christians. 

Another remarkable circumstance was that although during the 
1260 years of sect building, none had been formed on these prin- 
ciples; yet at the very time of the 1260 years' fulfillment, the 
reformation began, and was completed at once, embracing principles 
of Bible truth, Christian charity, and heavenly purity, in a day, 
which others had failed to attain in years of reforming. 

Another remarkable coincidence was that this took place in several 
localities at the same time, though they had no knowledge of each 
other. 

While our country was a wilderness, ere steamboats, railroads, or 
telegrams were known, Christian churches, without the least knowl- 
edge of each other, were organizing in New England, Carolina, and 
Kentucky. 

Thus the church went into the wilderness in the 6th century. The 
Dark Ages passed and no sect is formed holding apostolic principles. 
. . . But the 1260 years are not up. . . . Then with the 16th cen- 
tury the reformation commences, but no church yet appears upon the 
apostolic basis. . . . But the 1260 years were not fulfilled. . . . 



104 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Slowly the 19th century rolls in. . . . The 1260 years are fulfilled! 
Where is the church ? She was to come up out of the wilderness,, 
leaning upon the arm of her beloved, on the arm of her Savior and 
Lord. She was to come clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and ter- 
rible as an army with banners ! Where is she ? A nation must be 
born in a day. And now the time is expired. 

And as if an angel spoke, the cry goes forth, Where is the church ? 

And a voice comes from the east, and a voice comes from the 
south, and a voice comes from the west, saying, Here is a Christian 
Church. 

Here, say the Baptists of the east, here, tired of close communion 
and Calvinism, we have organized a Christian Church. 

Here, say the Methodists of the south, here tired of class leaders 
and disciplines, here we have organized a Christian Church. 

Here, say the Presbyterians of the west, here, tired of human laws 
and confessions, here wo have organized a Christian Church. 

And thus the time was fulfilled, and the prophecy was fulfilled. 
And the Christians were organized when the Bible said they would 
be, and as*the Bible said they would be. And the apostolic religion 
was restored, and the Bible doctrine was restored, and Christian fel- 
lowship was restored, and the Christian name was restored. 

And whether it is wrong or not, we are not to blame. Those who 
oppose it, must oppose the prophets that prophesied it, and the Bible 
that taught it, and the denominations that started it, and the charity 
which still loves it. 

But whether praised or persecuted, these things comfort us : that 
the Bible defends us, and conscience assures us, and God prospers us, 
and no enemies can overthrow us; and that, slowly it may be, but 
surely it must be, our principles are gaining ground. 

Once, we alone practically advocated the all-sufficiency of the Bible. 
Now all denominations unite to publish it, without note or comment. 

Once, we alone advocated the Christian name and union. Now we 
have Bible unions, and tract unions, and Sunday-school unions, and 
young men's Christian unions, and Christian Associations in every 
State in our union. 

Once, we alone contended for communing with all saints. Now 
many churches are adopting it. 

Once, in 1808, we published the only religious newspaper in the 
world. Now all denominations have them. 

Once, ours was the only college extending equal advantages to the 
sexes. Now others are jealous of that honor. 

And now we ask, If we are wrong, why are our principles ad- 
vancing? 

It may be denied that our influence caused all these reforms in 
others ; but it cannot be denied that we led the way in those things 
in which all now rejoice. 



UNION 105 

But it is objected to us, that there must be sects, that men cannot 
agree in union ; that there must be creeds to keep the church pure ; 
that our being called Christian implies that others are not Chris- 
tians ; and it is whispered that in denying the creeds we deny the 
trinity and divinity of Christ. 

Surely, if these things be true, they should not be talked of in 
private only, and behind our backs. But those ministers who think 
so should come to us and show it. In private we hold nothing, and 
our churches are always open to respectable ministers; and we 
hereby invite, and always invite, any minister, Catholic or Protes- 
tant, who thinks these things so, to come here in our own church 
and show it. 

No, no! 

There was a church before there were sects, as all must admit; 
and what has been may be again. Sects are not necessary because 
of division, but it is the sects which make the divisions. Men are 
not born Baptists, Presbyterians, or Quakers; neither does Christ 
convert them so, but they are made so after conversion, to suit, 
the very division, which it is claimed is needed because of such 
difference. 

But if Christians cannot agree on earth, how will they agree in 
heaven? Can a church where Christians cannot agree represent a 
heaven of peace and love? 

Again it is urged that we must have a creed to keep the church 
pure, to keep it united, so that we can know what it believes. But 
creeds do neither keep churches pure, nor united, nor yet show what 
they believe. The Catholics have many creeds, but are not pure. 
The Presbyterians are not united, and all churches have members 
who do not believe their creeds. 

That there was a church before there were disciplines, and faith 
before creeds, all admit, and what has been may be again. 

It is objected that there is no discipline or rule for expelling mem- 
bers in the Bible. 

If there is not, then men cannot get such authority from the Bible, 
to put it in the discipline, as they contend. 

But it is a mistake. Those who say it, do err, not knowing the 
Scriptures. 

It is also objected that we have no right to the Christian name, 
as calling ourselves Christians implies that others are not. 

We think this objection fallacious, for the following reasons : 

The objection has equal force against all names. 

No church could call itself orthodox, as it would imply that others 
are not. None should call itself Methodist, as it would imply that 
others are not methodical None Baptist, as it would imply that 
others do not baptize. And so on round the whole theological 
circle. 



106 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

We take the name Christian, not as sectarian, but as the only name 
of union, and freely extend it to all others. If others prefer another 
name, it is not our fault. 

It is objected that we deny the trinity. That is only true so far as 
speculative theology is concerned, a creed trinity. The Christian 
Church firmly holds to the doctrine found in the Bible, a real Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost ; and to the true divinity of Christ, and to the 
influence of the Spirit. 

The faith of the Christians is thus perfectly Scriptural, orthodox, 
and evangelical. 

Their church government is congregational and liberal, such as was 
instituted by the Savior himself. 

The Christian Church in her religion embraces all that the Bible 
embraces, and holds to all that heaven makes known. She extends 
her communion to all God's children. Here all may meet in prayer 
and praise ; here all may meet at the Lord's table, meet as God com- 
mands, meet as Jesus desires, meet as they did in the apostolic church, 
meet as they would in their dying day, meet as they will in heaven. 

We therefore advocate these principles as biblical, reasonable, 
Christian, and defensible, and believe they must spread and triumph 
to the millennial day, when they shall reign alone. 

But before that day rolls around, much remains to be done. Yet 
we should not be discouraged, no great reformation is accomplished 
without sacrifice. But beyond the cross appears the crown. Thus 
Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ above the treasures of Egypt. 
Thus Christ himself passed to the crown, enduring the cross and de- 
spising the shame. 

If this is the house of God, here souls should be pointed back to the 
primitive purity and power of the apostolic church. We should not 
be captivated by the popular religions of the day. Popular errors are 
seldom seen and more seldom condemned by the masses of mankind. 

It was not simply a church that was needed in Des Moines, nor 
the establishment of another sect, or another creed. The world is 
full of sects, and churches, and creeds. But a church, a house of 
God, where God's own religion should be taught. 

From the days when the Son of David dedicated the first great 
temple, in the city where Melchizedek met Abraham, and blessed 
him, until now, the world has been all dotted over with temples, all 
dedicated to God, but too many of them ministering to the super- 
stitions of men. 

Such is too much the case in this age. Be not surprised at this. 
All religions are sacred to them that hold them, and revered in the 
age when popular. Why should not the popular religion of our day 
be revered in its turn? Even the Golden Calf had charms in the eyes 
of the poor Israelite, who had seen it adored by the proud Egyptians. 
And how insignificant does the despised religion of Elijah appear, as 



POPULAR RELIGIONS 107 

held by one poor houseless and homeless wanderer, while kings and 
nobles bow to the worship of Baal. Then they were orthodox, and 
Elijah was regarded as a poor heretic. How they despised him! 
And how, almost despairing, he cried, ' * Oh Lord, they have digged 
down thine altars, and slain thy prophets, and I am left alone, and 
they seek my life." Even Solomon was carried away with the 
popular religions of his day ; and, indeed, few of the kings of Israel 
kept themselves pure from the religion of Baal. Even in the darkest 
ages of popery her religion was adorned with sufficient attraction to 
secure the adoration of the multitudes; for though the "earth was 
excavated for dungeons, yet the heavens were pierced with spires ; 
though the earth rang hollow with groans, yet the churches pealed 
with te deums. The smoke of incense ascended with the smoke of 
persecutions, and the cathedral and inquisition rose side by side. 
Eighty-six millions of the human brotherhood expired in her iron 
bonds ; still Rome was popular. And yet the multitudes flock to her 
gates, cross themselves, and thank God that they are not heretics, 
like Wickliffe, Jerome, Huss, and Cranmer, whose bodies passed 
through the fire ; or like Luther, Calvin, Knox, or Wesley, who are 
anathematized by pope and prelate. 

Protestants look back over those " Dark Ages " and see little save 
the fires and the stake ; hear little but the crackling of flames and 
the shrieks of the victims. But we should see more, and hear more : 
we should see the danger of human religion, and the necessity of 
conformity to the Bible. The Catholic looks back, and to him those 
days are the golden age of the church. The judgments of the 
inquisition remind him of the judgment of the Great Day: the 
judges remind him of the Final Judge, and the victims of the finally 
condemned. He sees in the cruel priest, who superintends the 
human sacrifice, no mockery of Christ's religion, but a sacred 
triumph. To him it affords no lesson of warning. And yet that 
church, like some giant mountain of evil, casts its dark shadow over 
all subsequent ages, and stains with, error the truth of all sects 
descending from her. 

The ' k Dark Ages" have rolled by, but in their stead ages have 
come, ages of doubt and division ; yet with the very doubt a dogmatic 
spirit, and with the divisions renewed persecutions. No state of the 
world is free from persecution, and no principles from prosecution. 

Jesus was put to death as a blasphemer for saying he was the Son 
of God. Galileo was condemned as an innovator for saying the world 
moved. Luther was anathematized as a heretic for pleading for the 
Bible. And Wesley stoned as a fanatic for preaching revivals. 

Yet persecution cannot overcome error nor produce truth. 

The art of printing produced a knowledge of the Bible : a knowl- 
edge of the Bible, religious liberty, but liberty and knowledge could 
not produce charity. The world was soon filled with sects, and the 



108 SUMMERBELL AOT> WRITINGS 

sects with creeds, until each votary found a religion adapted to his 
own half -converted heart or half -illumined mind. Formal or fanat- 
ical, universal or predestinarian, Protestant or papal, each made a 
gospel to suit itself. Theological battles were fought in every pulpit, 
and controversies were held in every church. Each had its own tests, 
multiplied and divided, old school and new school, Episcopal or Prot- 
estant, orthodox or Hixite. Presses teemed with books, not advo- 
cating Christ's gospel simply, but the gospel as held by some later 
leader. Missionaries were sent forth, not to preach Christ simply, 
but to preach the Christ of that sect. Communion tables were spread, 
not for the children of God, but for all of like precious faith with the 
minister. A village of one thousand inhabitants is divided up into 
eight or ten sects, and a city has its one hundred sects, all tending to 
division. Neighborhoods are alienated; families divided; parents 
separated; ministers disf eUowshiped ; children of God driven from 
his table; charity denounced as heretical; Bible faith as skeptical; 
the Christian name despised, and bigotry cultivated. 

Now we would suggest and we would do it modestly — we would ask, 
What charms can such a state of religion have over primitive Chris- 
tianity ? There we see the church as planted by the heavenly Master, 
creedless, sectless, spotless, heavenly, pure, powerful, triumphant. 

Then the heathen world said, See how these Christians love one 
another. And the skeptic attributes the triumph of the church to 
the purity of her principles and members. 

Then, if asked for their leader — it was Christ; for their book, it 
was the Bible ; for their name, it was Christian ; for their brethren, 
they were all Christians. They enjoyed communion of saints, and 
hoped for life everlasting. 

For the return of this apostolic state of religion we preach, we labor, 
we pray. For this we sacrifice the advantages of popular religions ; 
for this we endure persecutions ; for this we plead ; for this we have 
erected this house, and our desire is that it may indeed be "none 
other but the house of God, and the gate of heaven." 

Let us now pass to thoughts connected with the consideration that 
this is the house of God. 

If this is the house of God, it should be sacred to us. David said, 
' ' Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where 
thy honor dwelleth. " The great king, whose government men blessed 
and heaven approved, whose throne was exalted above all surround- 
ing nations, could still say, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O 
Lord God of hosts ! My soul longeth, yea, f ainteth for the courts of 
the Lord. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house ! " 

The house of God is to be desired. David said, " One thing have 
I desired : that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of 
my life. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than 
to dweU in the tents of wickedness." 



HOUSE OF GOD 109 

Thus in olden time they loved the house of God. 

Jesus said, "The zeal of thy house hath consumed me." 

Thus should we have zeal for God's house. This zeal will show 
itself in our entering the house with becoming reverence ; not with a 
careless, swaggering air; not stamping, talking, much less laughing; 
not looking around, filled with a vain curiosity, but devoutly, prayer- 
fully, meekly. 

Paul wrote to Timothy, that he might know how he ought to be- 
have himself in the house of God, the church; and the words are 
applicable to this house, for here the church meets. Any person 
who will attend the Roman Church will blush for the irreverence of 
Protestants in the house of God. The house of God should be a 
place of solemnity. The Word of God says, u Keep thy foot when 
thou goest into the house of God. God is in heaven, and thou upon 
earth; therefore let thy words be few," (Ec. 5 : 1.) This should teach 
us to avoid all worldly conversation and levity. 

If it is the house of God, then it is a house of prayer. Zechariah 
(T : 2) says, that men were sent into the house of God to pray before 
the Lord; and Jesus said, "My house shall be called a house of 
prayer." We should always enter the house of God as a house of 
prayer. 

Here we should pray for all men, coming boldly unto the throne 
of grace, to obtain mercy, and to find grace to help in time of need. 
For here God will meet us. 

We should pray for the Holy .Spirit, as directed by Jesus; ask, 
that we may receive ; seek, that we may find ; knock, that it may be 
opened unto us. 

We should pray for sinners as Jesus on the cross, ' ' Father, forgive 
them;" as Paul for the unconverted Jews (Rom. 10) "My heart's 
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved." 

Here penitent sinners should pray for themselves as Peter taught 
on the day of Pentecost, "Whosoever calleth on the name of the 
Lord shall be saved ; " as Saul prayed for himself when the Lord said, 
"Behold, he prayeth; " and as Cornelius when the angel said, (Acts 
10) "Thy prayers and thy alms are come up for a memorial before 
God." 

The house of God is a place of self-examination, where we should 
be more ready to hear. ' ' Judgment must begin at the house of God. " 
Here we should examine our hearts, confess our sins, renew our cove- 
nant, considering that it is the gate of heaven. 

The house of God is a place of salvation. ' ' They that be planted 
in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God." 
Here the gospel should be preached, and sinners be awakened, and 
souls be converted, and salvation's streams flow, that all may say, 
"This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of 
heaven." 



110 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The Christian will say with David, ''Lord, I have loved the habita- 
tion of thy house and the place where thy honor dwelleth. " Love it, 
because it is the house of our heavenly Father, and because our 
Savior is worshiped here. Love it, because it is a house of prayer 
and praise. Love it, for 

" How delightful 't is to see 
A whole assembly all agree ; 
At once they sing, at once they pray: 
They hear of heaven, and learn the way. 
I have been there, and still will go ; 
'Tis like a little heaven below." 

We love it because the saints meet there. There the Christian 
meets his fellow-pilgrim. Faces become familiar. Words of exhor- 
tation dear to the heart ! Prayers cheering to the soul ! 

Here our children are converted, and our neighbor's children. Here 
our ' ' best friends and kindred dwell. " Here we will find those who 
will remember us at a throne of prayer, sympathize with us in afflic- 
tion, minister to us when sick, mourn for us when dead, and meet us 
in glory. Here the gospel will be preached, the Bible expounded, 
blessings dispensed. 

Finally we should manifest this love for the house of God by corre- 
sponding actions. 

We should endeavor to fill our places here by doing our duty in 
supporting the cause. James (2:16) says, "If one be destitute, and 
we say, Depart in peace, be ye warmed, and be ye filled, notwith- 
standing we give them not those things that are needful to the body, 
what doth it profit ? "—and so with the house of God. If we love it, 
we should sustain it, not grudgingly, but with a cheerful heart ; not 
to remember it as a loss, but as a gain. If we have been able to give, 
be thankful. If we have not given, do it now ! And rather be a door- 
keeper in the house of God than suffer it to be neglected. Every 
week the true saint should lay by something for the house of God. 

We should bear our part in the worship and invite others to the 
house of God; faithful in the Sunday-school and prayer-meeting; 
faithful to all the duties and- privileges of God's house. 

Let this then be to us the house of God and the gate of heaven. 

Here let all Christians meet, and forgetting their creeds and party 
names and party strife, sit down in peace at the same communion table. 

Here, when the Protestant is wearied with his warfare against the 
Catholic, and the Catholic tired of his warfare against the Prot- 
estant, both may meet in peace and love; meet as they will in 
heaven, known only as children of God. 

As the house of God, we will dedicate it to the religion of God ; 
and as the gate of heaven we will dedicate it to those principles of 
truth, purity, and love, which we believe are practiced in heaven. 



BAPTISM INCIDENT 111 

Turning from all human policy and selfish ends, we will dedicate 
it to Avhatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, 
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso- 
ever things are of good report. If there be any virtue, we will seek 
it. (Phil. 4: 8.) 

From all the varying churches of the present day, the Christians 
turn to the apostolic church, when the Bible was the only creed, 
Christ the only leader, the Christian name the only name, and all 
Christians brethren. 

Turning from all that characterized the "Dark Ages," or sectarian 
ages, we desire to cultivate Bible truth in Christian charity. We 
would not inquire whether a man is European or American, Calvinist 
or Arminian, Baptist or Quaker, but, is he a Christian? is he a 
child of God ? a follower of Jesus ? is he a brother? 

We would possess the spirit of our Savior, as developed when he 
said, "Whosoever knoweth the will of God and doeth it, the same is 
my mother, and my sister, and my brother." 

Therefore to these great and heavenly principles of Bible truth and 
Christian fellowship we will dedicate this church. 

On one occasion, in the midst of a prairie west of Des Moines, after 
the sermon a note was handed to Elder Summerbell, that a person 
present wished to be baptized. He immediately announced that he 
would baptize, iu accordance with the request, on his next visit to that 
place. A man spoke aloud, and said that the candidate desired to be 
baptized theu, because she might not live to the next appointment. The 
preacher replied that he could not then baptize, ( because he had to 
leave for his next appointment very early in the morning), unless the 
candidate would consent to be baptized that night. The reply was given 
instantly, that the candidate accepted the arrangement. Elder Sum- 
merbell was astonished to find that it was a girl of about sixteen years 
of age, passing away with consumption. He asked who would go 
and cut the ice. The weather had been intensely, and was then very 
cold. A large man, Mattison, broad-shouldered, with a strong, loud 
voice, replied: 

"I will go and dig the graved 

"Hush," said the preacher. 

The meeting was then continued, while the volunteer went to cut the 
ice and the other men prepared the teams. When a sufficient time had 
passed for the ice to be cut, the company proceeded to the little lake or 
pond on the prairie, where the ice was of great thickness. The prairie 
soil beneath the water was almost inky black. Mattison had prepared 
the ice, had cut an opening in the pond, but not from the shore, and 
had shaped the opening in the form of a grave. On looking down into 
the opening, the inky blackness of the water was impressive to the 
preacher, and he said to the frail candidate : 

"Don't be afraid, I will take care of you." 



112 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

She replied, "O Mr. Summerbell, I 'm not afraid," 

He then lifted her down in his arms, repeating the ceremony, and 
baptized her. 

The candidate lived for some years, and finally died, "happy in the 
Lord," sending word before her death, that she " had never had a doubt 
since she had been laid in the watery 'grave,' nor been 'afraid.' " 

In the Christian Palladium of May 22, 1858, appeared the following 
from his pen : 

THE MESSIAH AND HIS GREAT SALVATION. 

I. The Son of God enjoyed glory with his Supreme Father before 
the world was (John 17 : 5 ), for he existed as the brightness of God's 
glory and the express image of his person ( Heb. 1:2), by whom and 
for whom he had thus far created all things. God, now more fully 
to develop the glory of his Son, designed to create by him a new 
order of intelligences in their own divine image. — First, he found a 
beautiful world for their residence. He diversified it with mountains, 
plains and valleys, rivers, seas and oceans. — He beautified it with 
flowers, and adorned it with forests. The vaulted dome he studded 
with stars, and the earth he spread with a verdant carpet. The 
warbling birds, as flying flowers, filled the air with music's song, 
while fishes enlivened the crystal streams with music's motions. As 
a lamp from heaven he hung the sun in the vaulted sky to light his 
day, and appointed the gentle moon to reflect her mirrored light 
upon his path by night. He covered the earth with every living 
thing desirable for convenience and comfort. Then, as though this 
world were too gross, he created a world within this world — a minia- 
ture world, for the residence of his favorite — a garden planted in 
Eden — a paradise in the world of delight. Its pleasant walks and 
blooming bowers were such as he alone could form, who moulds the 
snowflake, and arched the heavens. Every tree that is pleasant to 
the eye was there, and every flower which scatters its fragrance on 
the air. When the house was finished and furnished, and the halls 
were prepared, and the feast was ready, while the great family of 
creation waited to see their Lord, then the guest was introduced. 
Last of all, man was created. Come, said the Supreme Father to his 
own divine Son; come let us make man (Heb. 1:3), in our image 
and after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in 
the image of God created he him, male and female created he them 
and blessed them, and pronounced them good, and gave them to 
his Son. 

II. The Fall. The most subtle, wily, and beautiful beast of crea- 
tion was the serpent, now so detested, then so lovely. The seraph, 
a native of Egypt and Arabia, not only retains a portion of its 
primitive beauty, but its celestial name. It is now called the 
"seraph," after the name of an order of angels to which it probably 
once belonged, before for crime cast down. Its burning beauty, 
reverberating the solar rays, seems yet to claim celestial glory. Its 
brilliant wings, unlike the cherubim pointing to the mercy seat, tell 
its heavenly origin. The outward form in varied shapes may yet 
exist, visible ; but the great spirit is not confined to outward form or 
local habitation. The serpent — for such is the name by which it 
now is known— then most likely in seraph form, with the crown of a 
basilisk and burning beauty, such as would speak to inexperienced 



CHRIST 113 

eyes of heavenly birth, envious of man's felicity, now set to work to 
lead him from God's law — a simple law of prohibition, forbidding 
ill and death. Emblems of immortality, as when since then the 
burning bush spake of a resurrection, so the seraphic form of burning 
beauty now, presented to the woman the fruit of mortality, and bade 
her taste and know its heavenly power. Their only rule was yet 
their Father's law, a simple rule of obedience. Oh, creed divine! 
Oh, heavenly discipline! how easy! how plain! how simple! But 
now the arch enemy came with words deceitful, and another creed, 
and fruit of disobedience ; and man was led from ways divine, and 
fell. Then filled with shame they fled. 

III. The Redemption. A voice from heaven said, " The woman's 
seed shall bruise the serpent's head." A second voice said to Abra- 
ham, "In thy seed, all nations shall be blessed." The third was a 
dying father's blessing, "The sceptre from Judah shall not depart, 
nor a lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come." The fourth 
was Moses, ' ' A prophet shall the Lord God raise up of your brethren 
like unto me." The fifth was a prophet unwilling who said, "I've 
blest them and they shall be blest; " "A star shall arise out of Jacob, 
and a sceptre out of Israel." But David said, "The Lord said unto 
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy 
footstool." — Then angelic desire was kindled, and they endeavored 
to look into these things. Abraham rejoiced, by faith, to see the 
day; and God's people, desponding, were revived at the cry, "Be- 
hold! he cometh." 

IV. Messiah 's Heavenly Appearance. I saw in the night visions, 
and behold, one like the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, 
and he came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near 
before him. He was clothed with a garment down to the foot and 
girt about the paps with a golden girdle. — His head and hairs were 
white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of 
fire. His feet were like unto fine brass, burning in the fire, and his 
voice was as the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held 
the seven stars, and in his left the keys of death and hell. Out of 
his mouth went forth the word of God as a sharp two-edged sword ; 
and his countenance was as the sun shining in its strength — the 
brightness of God's glory and the express image of his person. His 
crown was a crown of righteousness; and his name is called the 
Word of God. On his vesture was the name written, King of kings, 
and Lord of lords. Then he was divested of his glory, and his 
celestial robes were laid aside. In his humiliation his judgment was 
taken away, and he was made a little lower than the angels for the 
suffering of death; and a body was prepared for him, for he took 
not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. 

Y. Next, I saw him on earth. Angels stooping from above an- 
nounced his coming as the Lord from heaven. Hail ! Mary, favored 
of heaven; from henceforth all nations shall call thee blessed. A 
child is born and a son is given ! Simeon was waiting in the temple, 
and the shepherds were feeding their flocks, while the wise men 
were hastening to Jerusalem, guided by the rising star. The Word 
was made flesh and dwelt among us. In the form of a servant, and 
in fashion as a man ; seen of angels in the likeness of sinful flesh, 
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Yet we beheld his 
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 
and truth. If the sick but asked him he was healed of every sick- 
ness. If the leper saw him, his leprosy was cleansed, and his flesh 



114 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

came again as the flesh of a child. If a tear from his eye fell on any 
grave, the grave restored its dead; and when his sandals touched 
the waves, the sea lay hushed as an infant at his feet. When Ins 
shadow fell upon the maniac, his reason came again. If but his 
spittle fell to the ground, the clay opened the eyes of -the blind ; and 
when his fingers touched the scanty loaf of the perishing, the bread 
was multiplied. When the fallen spirits saw him they fled, and the 
possessed was restored to liberty. The poor marked his footprints, 
and striving to step therein went on to heaven, and penitents looking 
upon his sufferings, lost all their sins. 

VI. The Conspiracy. Next I saw an assembly of kings and 
princes of the earth. And thfe mitred priest, and he of the tiara 
were there. And there was that old serpent which is also called the 
Devil and Satan, and the great Red Dragon was there ; he who drew 
after him one third of the stars of heaven, and the angels of the 
bottomless pit were with him; and the scarlet-colored beast was 
there; and the woman with the names of blasphemy; -and there too 
was the image of the Beast, which men were to worship. — And the 
false prophet was there, and Death sat at the door and Sin presided 
in the assembly ; and hell waited for their word, and the devil said 
that it was his to deceive the whole world. And the woman had the 
doctrines and the commandments of men; and they said of the 
Messiah, ' ' Let us burst his bands asunder, and cast away his cords 
from us." And one of dark countenance was there, — the name traitor 
was written upon his brow ; and he was bargaining for money, and 
he held a bag hi his hand. And I saw when they counted him thirty 
pieces of silver; and the bargain was sealed. — Then I saw the world 
wondered after the Beast, and said " These shall make war with the 
Lamb." 

VII. The War on the Lamb. Then I saw one as a man in 
affliction, and he groaned in spirit and was troubled. His face was 
marred with shame and spitting, and there were the marks of blows 
which men had given him. His face was more marred than any 
man's, for he had yielded his head to the smiters, and his face to 
them that plucked off the hair. He was a man of sorrows and 
acquainted with grief. He was taken from prison to judgment. On 
his back were the furrows which the plowers had plowed, and on his 
head was a crown of thorns piercing his temples, and his eyes were 
held with a napkin. His robe was taken from him, and in his hands 
and feet were the prints of rough iron, and in his side the broad 
mark of a spear! And he seemed as one that treadeth the wine 
press. Then one said, "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with 
dyed garments from Bozrah — this that is glorious in his apparel, 
traveling in the greatness of his strength ? " Then he answered, 
"I that speak righteousness, mighty to save. " Wherefore art thou 
red in thine apparel ? And thy garments like him that treadeth the 
wine vat ? "I have trodden the wine press alone. And of the people 
there was none with me. And I looked, and there was none to help. 
And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore mine 
own arm brought salvation unto me." 

VIII. The Triumph. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold! 
a white horse ; and he that sat upon him was called f aithf ul and true. 
And in righteousness doth he judge and make war. He was clothed 
in a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of 
God. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white 
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And on his head were 
many crowns; and on his vesture and upon his thigh was the name 



HIS CLAIMS FOR THE WEST. 115 

written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Then one cried, Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and 
the King of Glory shall come in ! And one answered, Who is this 
King of Glory ? And they replied, The Lord strong in battle. The 
Lord mighty to save. He is the King of Glory. Then I asked one 
who had a palm of victory to let me see the weapon by which -they 
overcame. And he replied, We overcame by the blood of the Lamb 
and by the word of our testimony. 1ST. Summerbell. 

On October 24, 1858, Summerbell delivered a lecture in New York City, 
of which the following abstract was published in the Christian Palladium 
of November 20, 1858. The lecture reveals a part of his success in his 
labors : — 

The tide of emigration sets west. The east is the source of religion, 
civilization, and population. In the east doubtless was the creation. 
From the east the sons "of Noah went forth to populate the earth. 
Every great religion had birth in the east. There lived Moses, Con- 
fucius, Zoroaster, Jesus, and Mahomet. Still the tide of empire sets 
west — from Europe to New York, from New York to the Great 
Valley. Over a single railroad of the west sometimes nine thousand 
persons will pass in a day. Where do they go ? Where find homes ? 

Few people in the east realize the magnitude of the west, that coun- 
try soon to become the seat of mighty states, kingdoms, and empires. 
This country was originally no part of the English domain. It was 
discovered and seized by the French and Spaniards. Nearly the 
whole valley of the Mississippi, with Nova Scotia ( New Scotland ) 
and Canada, was claimed by them by the law of nations, which de- 
cides that the nation discovering a river holds thereby the whole 
country watered by that river and its tributaries. This gave the 
French the whole Valley of the Mississippi north from Florida. That 
part east of the Mississippi with Canada was conquered from them 
before the Revolution. 1 he part west to the Pacific was purchased 
in 1803, and Florida was purchased of the Spaniards. 

This valley contains over six hundred and forty millions of the best 
farming lands in the world. It is watered by the finest rivers on our 
globe. In an early day, the French, who, by their bland manners 
and more generous and fraternal feeling, more easily established 
intercourse with the aborigines than our dominating English ances- 
tors, were enabled to establish forts from Canada to Florida, and to 
make settlements at Detroit, Vincennes, Dubuque, Galena, St. Louis, 
etc. Thus Iowa boasts of one of the oldest settlements of any of the 
States. Her soil was occupied, her mines worked, fortunes were made, 
and failures followed by sheriff: sales made via samples of soil exhibited 
at the seat of government at St. Louis. 

But how changed the scenes now ! The Mississippi floats over_ six 
hundred steamboats. Settlements are making, farms are opening, 
vineyards are planting, villages are rising, cities are rearing in every 
part' of the west. One hundred millions of square miles will soon 
contain a population of seventy-five millions of souls. The Missis- 
sippi divides the Great Valley with an uninterrupted navigation, 
reaching from the frigid north through to the sunny south, near four 
thousand miles, with its tributaries and lakes, touching fertile shores, 
in distance more than sufficient to encompass the world. On those 
waters are employed over eight hundred vessels, twelve thousand 
men, and over four thousand million of dollars, thus rivaling our 
ocean trade. And this country bears about the same relation to the 



116 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Atlantic States which the landings along your noble Hudson do to 
the beautiful villages and country which opens to your view on reach- 
ing the summit of the bluff. 

The prairie country ( prairie signifies meadow ) is composed mostly 
of fine rolling meadows, not so flat as to be monotonous, nor so hilly 
as to be objectionable, with a soil of the richest alluvium, varying from 
four to six feet deep. The waters are well supplied with choice fish, 
and the forests with game. In Iowa, the most desirable of the west- 
ern States, the country lies high. The crystal waters run rapidly over 
beautiful gravel bottoms. The climate is healthy, surpassed by but 
one State in the Union. The forest covers one-tenth of the entire 
surface, and, although we do not boast of our timber, yet black wal- 
nut, oak, sugar tree, butternut, and lime abound. 

Minerals of all kinds are found in Iowa. The lead mines at Du- 
buque turn out over six thousand tons annually. The coal beds cover 
over twenty -five thousand acres. Hydraulic lime, limestone, and 
gypsum are found in abundance. Two of the largest rivers in the 
world, viz : _ the Mississippi and Missouri, flow along its opposite 
shores, receiving its beautiful rivers as tributaries, and bearing its 
commerce, by an ever open highway, to the ocean, within the tropics. 
It has a surface of fifty-six thousand square miles. The winters are 
dry, cold, and healthy; the summers pleasant and agreeable. The 
capital, Des Moines, is situated at the junction of the two great cen- 
tral rivers at the head of steamboat navigation in central Iowa. The 
school fund is very large, and colleges are established at Iowa City, 
Des Moines, Mt. Pleasant, Burlington, Grinnell, and many other 
parts of the State. Thus at Iowa City is the State University, which 
is endowed amply by the State. Agriculture is pursued under pe- 
culiar advantages, as the price of land is very low, the soil fertile 
beyond all comparison, and the outlet for pasturage or the facilities 
for securing hay without cost are entirely boundless save by time. 
Their fruit grows so large that at the horticultural fair, eastern ex- 
hibitors accused, jocosely, the Iowa fruit-growers of exhibiting apples 
two years old, while theirs were yearlings. 

Our cause was planted in Des Moines two years ago. I preached 
the first sermon ever preached by our people there at that time. We 
have now a flourishing church in the city and some six in the sur- 
rounding country, supplied by some four pastors, all in the bounds of 
my labors, in country unoccupied by us two years ago. We have in 
the State five conferences, and an aggregate membership of about four 
thousand. Our success is very flattering, notwithstanding other de- 
nominations possess advantages over us, through the support of the 
missionary funds, which are profusely spent both to support their 
ministers and to build their churches. 

In 1858 and 1859, preachers of the sect that has grown so rapidly in 
the United States and other countries, but which then said that the 
gospel had not yet been preached in New England, sought to interfere 
with the growth of his church at Des Moines by promoting division in 
it, but without success. While the interest in the subject was prevailing 
he issued the following on a single .page, as a leaflet. The followers of 
Alexander Campbell did not like the publication ; they said that it was 
meant for them; they also said that it did not look like them; that it 
was entirely unfair, and a misrepresentation : 



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A COLD RIDE 121 

After this publication, there reached him at the same time pressing 
requests from Marietta, Iowa, and from Winterset, Iowa, to come to the 
help of the pastors in protracted meetings. Marietta was about seventy 
miles to the northeast; Winterset about thirty-five miles to the south- 
west. 

On an exceedingly cold winter day, in the morning, he started with 
his son Joseph for Marietta. On reaching the open prairie northeast of 
the city, he had driven hardly a mile from the timber when the track 
entirely disappeared. The snow had filled it. Going a little beyond the 
last mark, he stopped the sleigh. 

"Joseph, what shall we do?" said he. 

The boy, eager to go on, wishing to see the lads of Marietta, and to 
visit in Judge Smith's house, eagerly answered, not realizing the great 
danger : 

"Let us go on; we can travel by direction; the sun is shining, and 
if it clouds over, we can see the weeds in places, and by their branches 
know our direction." 

11 Joseph, we can never cross these prairies to-day. The next prairie is 
worse than this one. We cannot see from timber to timber. We will 
freeze to death if we try it. We will go to Winterset. Then we will 
have the sun in our face and the wind on our back. I did not write to 
either place, they were in such a hurry for me to come." 

He abruptly turned the impatient horse around, drove back toward 
the city, and found that the track made by our sleigh was already nearly 
invisible from driving snow. 

The boy, awed by the manner of his father, said not another word. 
It was something new to him to see his father show what looked like 
fear. He did not know what to think; but later in the day he knew. 
Through the forenoon and much of the afternoon, during which no 
stop was made except to water the horse, the boy bore the cold right- 
manfully. The wrappings and care of mother had been bountiful. 
Besides, pride helped the boy. He wished to be able to say, after the 
arrival at Winterset, that he could have borne the cold of the ride to 
Marietta. Hence, when his father repeatedly asked him if he was 
warm, he would steadily and stubbornly answer that he was doing well 
enough. But in the afternoon hunger and cold had done their work, 
and though it was evident that time was important if Winterset was to 
be reached before the close of the short day, the boy was compelled to 
yield, and say, wearily, that he " guessed he was freezing," for it did not 
" hurt " as much as before. The father was then all tenderness and 
energy. But it was in vain that he tried to stir the circulation of the 
boy by having him walk; he would only go slowly a little way and then 
ask to hold on to the sleigh. Then there was furious driving to the 
nearest house, where hospitality and warmth were ready for travelers in 
such weather. The boy said nothing about being able to bear the cold of 
the drive to Marietta. He had changed his mind about that boast. 

At Winterset, Elder A. D. Kellison received N. Summerbell with eager 
welcome. But he gave the information that the meetings were being 



122 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

injured by the attacks made in the village by a preacher by the name of 
Shortridge; that Shortridge in some way had come into possession of the 
"Bible Looking-Glass," by N. Summerbell, and last night had an- 
nounced that on Thursday night "he was going to break the Bible Look- 
ing-Glass over Summerbell's bald head;" that he was a very learned 
man, speaking seven languages fluently, and was making much of an 
impression. 

Summerbell asked Kellison who said that Shortridge spoke seven 
languages fluently. 

" Why, he does." 

"Humph," said Summerbell. 

That night, after the services at the Christian Church, Elder Kellison 
persuaded Summerbell to go to the Disciple Church. Shortridge was 
still speaking. 'Kellison, Summerbell, and his son took seats about half 
way from the door. In announcing his "appointments," which was 
done with much description, Shortridge said that on Thursday night he 
would " break Summerbell's Looking-Glass." Summerbell spoke aloud, 
from his seat, without rising : 

"Be careful, and do not cut your fingers with the broken glass." 

Though in a sense an act of disorder, it was done in such a way as not 
to be offensive, and a titter went around the house, though the hearers 
were Disciples. 

"Ah," said Shortridge, "I suppose that is Elder Summerbell; I 
thought so when you came in." 

Either that night, or the following one, it was arranged for alternate 
services by the two visiting ministers, each preaching on the subjects of 
difference, in the presence of the other, and both making their an- 
nouncements in both churches. The next night Shortridge said that on 
Thursday night he would " examine the Looking-Glass." 

Summerbell said, "The next night I will examine the man that ex- 
amines the Looking-Glass." 

On those two nights there was much argument and wit, and the 
worship became largely controversy. 

The "Bible Looking-Glass" was well advertised. Everybody seemed 
to talk about it. 

The life of Elder Summerbell, while living at Des Moines, may be un- 
derstood as to its public activity^ by studying the following itinerary of 
his monthly labor, which prevailed during much of his residence 
there : 

( Twice a month as follows : ) 

Sunday at Des Moines— Sunday-school, morning and night preaching, 
address to young people or other public service interesting to young 
people in the afternoon. 

Monday night, preaching at Keelerville. 

Tuesday night, preaching at Young's schoolhouse. 

Wednesday night, preaching at Corydon. 

Thursday night, preaching at Polk City. 

Friday night, preaching at Swede Point, now Madrid. 

Saturday, returning to Des Moines and resting for Sunday. 



summerbell's activity. 123 

( Once a month as follows :) 

Sunday at Des Moines always. 

Tuesday and Wednesday nights at or near Rising Sun, preaching. 

( Once a month as follows: ) 

Sunday, at Des Moines, as usual. 
Tuesday night, preaching at HofF Settlement. 
Wednesday night, preaching at Alban Settlement. 
Thursday night, preaching at Hoff' Settlement, on way back toward 
Des Moines. 

On the Friday nights when he was not absent from the city, he was 
invariably at his place in the prayer-meeting. It can easily be seen how 
inuch preaching was regularly done. His sermons were not " slip-shod " 
affairs nor mere exhortations, but well planned, well studied addresses 
that were suitable, as far as intellectual preparations were concerned, for 
the most cultivated city audience. He always had with him on his trips, 
matter for study, books and writing material, and his books were very 
tools. It may be thought that he could preach the same sermons from 
night to night, but that plan was impracticable, except that he might 
preach the same sermon at the HofT Settlement that he had preached 
the week before on the Young's schoolhouse trip. The reason why he 
could not preach the same sermon on successive nights was that some of 
his hearers went to the successive services, as though following their 
preacher from place to place. He sometimes took advantage of that fact 
to preach sermons in logical succession, as though he were preaching at 
the same place night after night, often addressing the congregation at 
the second point as though it was the same congregation he had ad- 
dressed the night before at a place miles away. 

All this time he kept writing for'the denominational papers, and his 
articles were eagerly sought and read. Though in the far west, he was 
exerting an influence widely felt. 

In the Christian Palladium of July 9, 1859, appeared the following : 

STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE. 

There are several places in the Word of God where the design 
seems to be to make particular statements of doctrine, but these all 
agree with the Christian sentiment. 

1. Ephesians 4 : 4-6 is very peculiar in its clearness in this respect : 
"There is one body, [or church] and one Spirit, even as ye are called 
in one hope of your calling; One Lord, [Jesus Christ] one faith, 
[the Scriptures], one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is 
above all, and through all, and in you all. " 

2. I. Cor. 8 : 4-7 contains a very clear statement of Bible theology : 
"There is none other God but one. For though there be that are 
called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, 
and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, oi whom 
are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 
are all things, and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man 
that knowledge.'" 

3. Such clear and lucid statements of Christian doctrine should 
put to shame the creeds which constantly contradict them; and, 



124 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

amid all their persecutions, encourage those Christians wlio adhere 
to the truth. 

4. Jesus, in questioning his disciples, taught them the true doc- 
trine concerning himself. 

Jesus — Who do men say that I the Son of man am? 
Disciples — John the Baptist ; some, Elias, etc. 
Jesus — Who say ye that I am ? 
Peter — The Christ, the Son of the living God. 

Jesus — Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona; . . . upon this rock I 
will build my church. (Matt. 16 : 13-18.) 

5. Nor is the assurance of grace less clearly stated to rest upon 
our reception of the same truths. 

"This is life eternal," said Jesus to his Father — " this is life eternal, 
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 
whom thou hast sent." (John IT : 3.) 

6. "Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his dis- 
ciples, which are not written in this book ; but these are written, that 
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that 
believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20 : 30, 31.) 

7. ' ' Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth 
that Jesus is the Son of God ? " 

"He that hath the Son hath life." 
"He that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 
"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 
"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father." 
" But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." 
"Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? " 
" He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son." (I. John 
2:22.) 
Mark 12: 28, contains well denned Christian doctrine: 
Scribe — Which is \he first commandment of all? 
Jesus — ' ' The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel ; 
The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, 
and with all thy strength. . . . The second is like, namely this, Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor. . . . There is none other commandment 
greater than these." 

Scribe — "Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one 
God ; and there is none other but he. " 

No Christian minister appointed to write us a creed could better 
express or define our sentiments than they are in the above passages, 
and nothing can be stated more clearly opposed to the popular creed 
theology than such sentiments. Surely, a trinitarian may yet 
answer' as the monk of old, when he had found a Testament and 
was questioned as to what book it was, " I do not know, but it seems 
to be some book written by a heretic against our church." 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

The following appeared in the Gospel Herald of November 26, 1859: 
ARE INFANTS LOST? 

Brother Ellis : A very peaceable and loving article appeared in 
Herald No. 12, under this head, wherein the writer out of a kind and 
peaceable heart, is forced to make quite a spirited assault upon an 
article of mine, in which I urged that while none at the present day 
would probably admit that infants are lost, yet that certain human 
systems implied it and were therefore lame. My very worthy re- 



INFANT SALVATION 125 

viewer, losing sight in his haste to defend human systems, intimates 
that I have accused some one of holding that infants are lost and asks 
me to furnish the names! I refer the reviewer to the words of Paul 
quoted by himself, and not to his own words "enemies," "misrepre- 
sented," etc. : these being out of character with the charitable spirit 
of his article. 

2. But he states further that the loss of infants is not implied in 
any doctrine or practice of those people, etc. This, of course, con- 
tradicts the spirit of my article, and hence, as I too love peace, I shall 
peaceably try to defend my position that the Methodist discipline 
and A. Campbell's system do both imply the probable loss of infants. 

I. The Methodist discipline states of " Birth Sin:" 

1. "It is the corruption of the nature of every man that naturally 
is engendered" etc., " whereby he is inclined to evil and that continu- 
ally." 

2. The baptismal service (for infants) says: "Dearly beloved, 
forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin, and that our 
Savior Christ saith, none can enter into the kingdom of God except 
he be regenerated and born anew of water, and of the Holy Ghost ; I 
beseech you to call upon God, that of his bounteous mercy he will 
grant, etc., . . . that, being delivered from thy wrath," etc. 

II. Here I contend that we are plainly taught that 

1. The child is in a lost state. 

2. The wrath of God is upon it. 

3. That it must be regenerate and born of water and Spirit in 
order to be saved. 

4. That the writer meant baptism by the water. 

5. That the child's salvation is thus made contingent : 
( 1 ) . Depending upon its baptism. 

( 2 ) . Upon its regeneration. 
( 3 ). TJpon the wrath of God being removed. 

(4). Upon God hearing their prayers and granting to the child 
that which by nature it cannot have. 

III. Conclusion — 1. We have no proof that any child is really 
born of water; in baptism. 

2. We have no proof that infants who cannot repent are regen- 
erated at their baptism. 

3. We have no proof that infants are saved if the "wrath of God 
is on them." 

4. We have no proof that the prayers are heard. 

5. All the proof which we have of the salvation of infants is in 
those Scriptures which deny that they need this regeneration or that 
the wrath of God is on them. 

Therefore, I conclude that the system implies the possibility, at 
least, that those infants who are not prayed for thus — not baptized, 
not born of water, may not be regenerated nor delivered from the 
wrath, but be lost. I know that no Methodist believes that they are 
lost, but the contingencies, upon which his discipline suspends their 
salvation, I would affectionately urge upon him as a reason for 
abandoning it. 

THE DISCIPLE OR CAMPBELLITE* THEORY. 

I. Do they hold that infants are in a lost state or that they have 
any need of salvation ? The reviewer only says that they are 
1. " Materially of a corrupt constitution and subject to decay." 

*See Ency. Rel. Kno., Art. Disciples of Christ, (sometimes called Campbellites, etc.) 
by A. Campbell. It is a nickname, so is Methodist, but both are owned and printed 
by themselves, and therefore may be used. 



126 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

But this is not a full expression. The question is, Do they need 
salvation? The unanimous world will answer yes/// And Mr. 
Campbell answers yes/ in his "Christianity Restored" page 240. 

2. ""Infants, Idiots" etc., li we commend to the mercy of God" 

If they need mercy, of course they need salvation. If they need to 
be commended to mercy, they need salvation. 

II. — 1. Now the only question is whether the system saves them, 
not whether they think them to be lost. It is admitted that they do 
not. But it is principles, not men, which we are examining. 

2. My worthy reviewer says, "The Disciples do not baptize 
infants because the Savior said, 'of such is the kingdom of heaven,' 
baptism being for the remission of past sins," etc. But this will not 
answer. 

3. Disciples say that Jesus' teaching was under the law and that 
what is in the Gospel is not of authority unless corroborated under the 
gospel dispensation — after the gospel was first heard, viz: at Pente- 
cost. Now, where will my reviewer find this stated, after the resur- 
rection ? Let him remember that they are not permitted to reject the 
Savior's mode of pardoning adults during his personal ministry by 
the plea that the kingdom was not yet set up ; but when pressed, fly 
to his words in their own defence, contrary to their teaching. 

4. Their words are, ' ' There is but one gospel plan of salvation, to 
be proclaimed to intelligent, accountable beings. — -Faith, Repentance, 
Baptism." (Signed) etc., . 

Now, if this is the only plan, and nothing is more common with 
them than to speak against a plurality of plans, of course infants are 
lost as they can neither believe, repent or be baptized. If they choose 
to retreat and say that God has one plan for those who hear and obey, 
another for idiots who hear without obeying, and another for heathen 
who neither hear nor obey, and another for deaf and dumb persons, 
another for Quakers, for pious pedo-Baptists, etc., then, of course, 
they may also have a plan for infants, but they can no longer say 
that there is but one plan and proclaim to intelligent accountable 
beings that faith, repentance, and baptism is God's plan for those 
who believe, repent, and are baptized, but that those who do not are 
saved on some other plan. Or if the one plan be so enlarged as to 
take in infants, Quakers, etc., it may be as broad as the gospel, and 
they thus be reduced to confess that they have no more a " One Plan " 
system than other denominations. 

5. Mr. C. quotes John 3 : 5, to show that baptism is indispensable, 
" Except a man be born of water," etc., but as man is added by the 
translators, it cannot be confined to men but must include the race — 
infants and all. Urgo, their application of this text involves the 
subject in doubt and renders the loss of infants probable. 

6. To my reviewer's remarks about baptism being for the remis- 
sion of sin, being the reason why they do not baptize infants, I object, 
that Jesus was not a sinner, though baptized, and that if they do not 
regard infants as sinners, there is no need of Mr. C. commending 
them to "mercy." 

7. In "Christianity Restored," Mr. C. states that the spirit has 
put forth all its mortal power in the loords, etc. , that its power is 
spent, and he that is not sanctified and saved by these cannot be 
saved by angels or spirits, human or divine. (Page 350.) 

Of course an infant cannot be saved by these, and the conclusion 
is inevitable that infants are lost or Mr. Campbell's theory is un- 
sound. 



ATTACK REPULSED 127 

With sincere love to all its adherents and the hope that they may 
adopt the Book of God as their only plan, I subscribe myself their 
friend and brother, hoping that they will not suppose that I think 
that they hold that infants are lost, but only that the system implies 

it. 1ST. SlTMMERBELL. 

The following tract passed through different editions : 
REVIEW OF MATTISON ON THE TRINITY. 

BY N. STJMMHRBEI/L. 
[Second Edition.] 

Mr. Mattison, unless expelled, is a minister and writer of the M. E. 
Church, who compiled his book to misrepresent the Christians. This 
review is necessary for the defense of the truth, and those who cherish 
it. But the writer wishes it well understood that the' remarks are 
not designed for all who are of Mr. M. 's creed, but simply those who 
sympathize with his course, and that, even in their case, it is only a 
necessary exposure of error and corruption, which gives point to the 
argument. When Mr. Mattison's book was first put into my hands, 
on discovering the character of the work, I returned it to the lender, 
with these words : "I have read thirty pages, and marked forty 
contradictions, for your consideration." I then supposed that a 
common regard for public opinion, if not for the Ninth Command- 
ment, would lead to a speedy suppression of a book that could not 
claim even the merit of ingenious misrepresentation. But the zeal 
with which the Book Concern prints, and the circuit riders circulate 
them, too plainly says : 

' ' Mattison, with all thy faults we love thee still, and regard thy 
work, as the best possible defense of a discipline" 

"Founded on the experience of a long series of years, also on the 
observations and the remarks tchichwe have made.'''' (See Dis. p. 2.) 

The charges made on the Christians are : that we are Arians, and 
akin to Mormons, etc. , and that we hold that God has a body ; and 
other like foolish charges, none of which are sustained. To decoy 
his readers from his own crooked doctrine, and raise a prejudice 
against the truth, Mr. M. conies with a nourish against Mormonism, 
TTniversalism, Arianism, and Soeinianism. 

Arianism is to hold Christ as "full god," but not the self -existent 
Father. (See Milner Ch. His. 1 : 277.) 

Socinianism is to hold Christ as a mere or "very man," and a 
human sacrifice. 

Universalism is to hold that all will be saved. 

Mormonism (on the point labored by Mr. M.) is to hold that Jesus 
Christ is the Eternal God — that "the God of Nature suffered," and 
that "the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (wh.) is one God." (See it 
all stated in the Mormon Bible, pp. 51, and 107, and copyright P.) 

1. Mr. M.'s own creed teaches that Christ is a God, with body 
and parts, (who died to reconcile his Father, who is the true God 
without body or parts) "very God," words of full Arian meaning. 

2. He holds that the Christ who was seen, and which suffered, 
was very man ; and he was only a human, or Socinian sacrifice. 

3. He holds his trinity just as it is quoted above from the only 
Bible in the world, where it can be found. 

4. His creed, Art. XX. teaches Universalism by saying that 
"Christ has made perfect redemption, propitiation and satisfaction 



128 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

for all the sins of the whole world, both actual and original." This 
includes the sins of atheism, murder, suicide, and rejecting Christ, 
and all other crimes. 

So that did we not put a charitable construction on his doctrine for 
his brethren's sake, one might call it a compilation of Arianism, 
Soeinianism, Mormonism, and Universalism. 

But one of the worst features of this human doctrine is that it 
loses the divine Son of God for a teacher, sacrifice, and mediator, 
and has in his place, between God and man, only a small, black 
mark, thus " God-many Not as the Christians: 

1. God the Father, the only true God. 

2. The Son of God, a mediator between God and men. 

3. Men needing one above themselves to plead with God. 
Observe well, my trinitarian brother, your Christ is God-man; 

all is either God or man; no medium. Thus after your hearing 
preaching for years against a human sacrifice, is it not hard to feel 
that you have no other, that rejecting the only begotten Son of God, 
you lose your mediator, have only a human sacrifice, and thus take 
up with the crumbs which fall from the Socinian table ? From my 
heart I pity you. While I thought of these things, and of all the 
harsh sayings against Jesus, and against those Christians who defend 
Mm, my heart sank within me. Then I thought of former days 
when the holy martyrs suffered; and then of Bethlehem, then of 
Pilate's bar. 

Then it seemed to me that the court was set again, and that Jesus 
was again put upon trial before the modern priests. And they were 
there from Rome, and from Utah, Geneva and Edinburgh, and 
Princeton and Oxford, each one with his creed-book in his hand. 
And they sat with great pomp, and while they sat, there came one 
in, in the form of God, with golden crowns upon his head, and the 
glory of his countenance was as the sun shining in his strength ; and 
one said : " This is the Son of God." 

Then Mr. Mattison arose and said, "Trinitarian churches are of 
decidedly one faith. May I ask you, who say you that this man is ? " 
Then they opened their creed-books and said : " That this part of him 
was God, but that part was 'very man,' mere humanity, and that 
they could not trust it. That such was God, and that they could 
worship it, but that another part was but a creature — a very man, 
like themselves, and that to worship it would be idolatry." As I saw 
them handle him, the crowns of gold were gone, and the crown of 
thorns sat upon his temples, and his beautiful robe was gone, and his 
eyes wept tears of blood, and his face was defiled again with spittle, 
and his wounds bled afresh. And he said : ' ' The Father himself, 
which hath sent me, hath borne -witness of me." "Search the Scrip- 
tures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : and they are they 
which testify of me." 

Then they brought forward the Bible, and the witness testified, 
and a voice from heaven said : 

" If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: 
for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son." 
"He that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he 
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." (I. John 5: 
9, 10.) 

Many witnesses came to testify in their order, but Mr. M. was 
admitted first. 

Mr. Mattison' s testimony — read from his book: 



THE TRINITY 129 

Page 3. "Trinitarian churches are decidedly of one faith, in re- 
gard to the mode of the divine existence, and the character of Christ." 

What do you think of the Son of God ? Mr. M. 

Page 74. "Son of God implies absolute divinity, and is no evi- 
dence of inferiority." 

Please to read us your book contradicting this. 

Page 21. "To say that the Son is born is the everlasting Father; 
or that the Mighty God was born, is little less than blasphemy." 

As you say that it is blasphemy to call the Son born, God ; please 
to give us a specimen of your blasphemy. 

Page 124. "The Son is both a child born, and the Mighty God." 

Now, sir, having proved yourself guilty of blasphemy, on your 
own philosophy, tell what you think of the equality. 

Page 141. "The Divine Father had a Divine Son, co-equal, 
co-essential, and co-eternal." 

Read on, sir, and see if you cannot contradict yourself. 

Page 92. "The Holy Ghost is subject to the Son, as the Son is 
subject to the Father." 

Here one objected that the witness contradicted himself so often as 
to be unworthy of credit ; but, the judges deciding this was the way 
with all who testified on that side, he was allowed to proceed. 

Page 107, "Our Bibles and creeds are genuine, while those of 
the Arians are in part a forgery." 

One asked which ? The common Bible which has no trinity in it, 
and condemns creeds (Mark 7:7); or the Mormon Bible, the only 
one which has that doctrine ? But he only repeated "our Bibles are 
genuine ! " So they caused him to read farther to know which 
Bibles; and asked him: 

What do your writers think of such scriptures as are opposed to 
their doctrine? i. e., Matt. 24: 36, and Mark 13: 32, where it says 
that the Son does not know the time of the end of the world, but the 
Father only, and he read : 

Pages 57, 58. " Many eminent critics consider it spurious." 

One remarked that the true reading is "make it known." That is, 
.none made it known but the Father only. 

Another said that would not do as the Father did not make it 
known. So they all concluded with Mr. M., pages 57, 58, and the 
"eminent critics, that it is spurious." This opened the subject of 
the genuineness of the common Bible, when Mr. M. having men- 
tioned the eminent critics, Dr. Adam Clarke testified by his Com- 
mentary against the following scriptures as "spurious, forgeries, 
alterations, additions, corruptions, etc. : 1. John 5:7; Mark 13 : 32. 
2. Samuel, chap. 21 ; and finally included as doubtful all of Samuel, 
Kings, and Chronicles ; six books. ( See his Notes in " Clarke's Com- 
mentary," published by M. E. Church.) The conclusion then was, 
that Mr. M. meant by "Arian Bible, in part a forgery," the common 
Bible in use; and that by "our Bibles, " which he called "genuine" 
he must have meant the Mormon Bible, the only one having his doc- 
trine in it. Others thought that they only denied the "Plenary 
Inspiration" and commanded him to read on. 

Page 58. "Christ was the Son of God in both natures, considered 
as distinct." 

But Clarke said, ' 'If Christ be the Son of God in his divine nature, the 
Father is superior." ( Clarke. Luke 1:35.) To this Barnes, Stewart, 
and many others agreed, contradicting page 3. They then asked him 
whether he worshiped all of the " One Christ, both God and manf" 



130 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Page 58. "As a human being, Christ was neither omnipotent, 
omniscient, omnipresent, nor eternal," etc. As a man, he knew not 

Page 59. One said, Which is the sacrifice, the divinity or this that 
you call "very man "f ( See creed.) 

Page 39. "The humanity could be born, etc., baptized and cruci- 
fied," not the divinity. 

Page 125. "Trinitarians do not hold to the sufferings and death 
of divinity." 

Page 3. As you say that you are "decidedly of one faith," please 
to sing us a hymn to prove page 125 : 

"When God, the mighty Maker died 
For man the creature's sin." 

Then one said, " Great is the mystery of godliness." Another said, 
" The mystery of iniquity." (II. Thes. 2: 7.) Another said, "Mys- 
tery Babylon." (Rev. 17: 5.) Then they commanded Mr. M. to 
read on: 

Page 21. "To say that the Son born is the everlasting Father, or 
that the Mighty God was born, is little less than blasphemy." 

Please now to sing, said one. Mattison sang from his H. B. what, 
on page 21, he called blasphemy. 

u This infant is the Mighty God; 
Come to be suckled and' adored; 
The Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, 
The Son of David and his Lord." 

They then asked him to read as to who died for us. 

Page 125. "The human nature only died on the cross." 

Will he contradict this? Let us listen. Sings, "When God the 
Mighty Maker died. " Dr. Spring calls Christ an "expiring God." 
("Bible not of Man.") 

Page 31. Mattison says, "He dies and suffers as man." "God 
will no more have man's blood for sacrifice than swine's blood." 
(Dr. Adam Clarke. II. Sam. 21 : 10, Note.) 

One said, Mr. M. have you no sacrifice but man ? 

Page 125. " Human nature only died . ' ' 

Can this mere man "purchase salvation ? " 

Page 18. "No creature could merit from God." 

Some said the trinitarian scheme destroyed the atonement, and 
asked Mr. M. if he could not make out that divinity died and thus 
contradict page 125, page 31, and others. 

Page 128. " The Word, the second person in the trinity, was sent, 
etc., and became a sacrifice." 

One said, How could the unchangeable God become a sacrifice ? 
Mr. M. read on. 

Page 128. "He humbled himself, and assumed the place of a 
servant — became poor, — subject — and dependent," (that is, the 
unchangeable, became poor.) 

Page 75. "God laid down his life for us." 

One said, Now you have contradicted all that you had said before ; 
tell me, had this God, the Son, a body ? 

Page 30. "He had ! flesh and blood. " 

Page 22. "A human body and soul." 

Notwithstanding, the creed says, that the living and true God 
(third person) has no body — read on and see if you will contradict 
pages 30 and 22. 



mattison's book 131 

Page 45. ."To give God a body is to contradict one of the plainest 
declarations of the Word of God, and make out a material God, and 
is no better than atheism." 

When I understood that he was saying this, not against his own 
doctrine, that God has a body, as pages 30 and 22, but against the 
Christians, I said, Read on. 

Page 444. ; l Arians tell us that God has a body. " 

Do they hold that God has a real physical body, as you teach, 
page 22 ? 

Page 46. "They tell us that God's body is a spiritual body — 
nothing but spirit after all." 

Since you have thus cleared the Christians and contradicted and 
condemned yourself, please to read us some of your blasphemy 
against the Savior. 

Page 46. "Kinkade represents Christ as capable of repentance, 
then he must be capable of sinning. Then he may sin against God 
himself and be damned forever." 

Ques. But the Bible, not Kinkade, represents God as repenting, 
and you say that God is Christ. 

Matt. ' ' Then he may sin against God himself, and like the fallen 
angels, be damned forever." 

Ques. That will do, Mr. M., we desire to hear no more of your 
book, for without regard to truth or honesty, you deny on one page 
what you assert on another, and close with blasphemy too horrible to 
read ; but surely you will not say that we all agree with you in this 
blasphemy. 

Mr. Wood's Testimony. Mr. Wood, a man of great reputation, 
came forward with his Bible dictionary, published by the Methodist 
Book Concern, and testified : "If Jesus be not the supreme God, he 
was a setter up of idolatry — and Mahomet must be a valuable 
reformer. If Christ be not God, the Jews did well to crucify him, 
as a noted blasphemer ; and to persecute his disciples. What are his 
miracles, predictions, and mysteries, but a system of magic, invented 
or effected by Satan, to promote the blasphemous adoration of a 
creature." (Christ the Son of God.) (Wood's "Dictionary of the 
Bible," published by the M. E. Church. Page 248.) 

Other Protestant testimony compiled from the Ency. Rel. Kno., 
Art. Jesus Popular Prot. Work :— •- 

' ' If Jesus be not God, the writers of the New Testament dis- 
covered great in judiciousness in the choice of words, and adopted a 
very incautious and dangerous style — unwarrantable — and are 
chargeable with contradiction, weakness or wickedness, and either 
would destroy their claim to inspiration." (Page 68T.) 

Here the testimony was objected to as being against the apostle, 
more than Christ. 

Paul was permitted to testify in self-defense what he wrote in 
I. Cor. 8: 6, that: 

" To us there is but one God, the Father;" and I. Cor. 15 : 24; and 
especially Eph. 4:6; that the Father is above all. 

And John, the beloved disciple, pointed them to his record ( John 
IT: 3), that the Father is "the only true God," and to Jesus' words, 
(John 14: 28,) "My Father is greater than I." 

Clarke said that if the divine nature is the So?i, of course the 
Father is superior. (Dr. Clarke, Luke 1 : 35.) 

One said, "If the divine nature of Christ is not God's Son, but of 
equal eternity, it must be God's brother, if any relative, it being of 



132 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the same age. This seemed to strike their minds as the opinion most 
favorable to their views, but as Jesus appealed to the Scriptures, the 
following witnesses were introduced : 

1. The Angels" Testimony. The angels say that he who was 
born was not mere humanity, but "' Christ the Lord" and that he 
should be called the "Son of the Highest" even the Son of God. 
(Luke 1: 32.) 

2. John's Testimony. John was sent before him to proclaim him 
and be a witness of him, and he said, ' ' I saw, and bare record that 
this is the Son of God." (John 1 : 34.) 

3. Paul's Testimony. Paul preached that "He is the Son of 
God." (Acts 9: 20.) 

4. John's Testimony. John said that Jesus had said and done 
many things that he could not name, but he had written all that he 
wrote "that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
God, and that believing we might have life in his name." (John 
20: 31.) 

5. Internal Testimony. "He that believeth on the Son of God, 
hath the witness in himself." 

6. The Father's Testimony. "This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased." (Matt. 3 : 17.) 

The Father being inquired of again, testified: "This is my 
beloved Son: hear him." (Mark 9:7.) 

One then said: But is it not idolatry to worship the Son ? 

7. Then said the Father, ' ' Let all the angels of God worship him ! " 

8. Another confessed, saying, "We, brother, should say nothing 
of idolatry since we acknowledge that he who is both our Savior, and 
our God, is part man, (or God-man), and creature, possessing both a 
human soul and body, all of which we worship, though we allow it 
not, for we say, " It is idolatry ! " 

9. Then one said, that they should keep silence on such points, 
and ask Jesus himself, as to who he is. What sayest thou of thyself ? 

10. Jesus' Testimony. And Jesus answered, "I am the Son of 
God." (John 10: 36.) 

11. Then one confessed, saying, I believe that "thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God," and Jesus answered, "Blessed art 
thou . . . upon this rock I will build my church. " (Matt. 16: 16-18.) 

12. Another desired baptism, and when he confessed saying, "I 
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," he was baptized. (Acts 
8:37.) 

13. Then the beloved disciple said, "Who is he that overcometh 
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 
(I. John 5:5.) 

14. Another said, "He is . antichrist, that denieth the Father, 
and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the 
Father: but he that acknowledged the Son hath the Father also." 
" Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth 
in him, and he in God." (I. John 2 : 22, 23, and 4 : 15.) 

Peter's testimony closes the trial : 

15. Jesus himself ashed, "Who say ye that I am ? " 

Peter answered, ' l Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
Then Jesus blessed him, and said : 

' ' Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, 
and upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it." (Matt. 16 : 15-18. ) 



CALL TO COLLEGE PRESIDENCY 133 

Then I saw the crowns of gold again upon the Savior's brow, and 
they sang: " Behold the Lamb that was slain, he is King of Kings, 
and Lord of Lords." 

Mr. M. said: ''Said I not well, that trinitarians, at least, are all of 
one faith ? We do not claim the Bible as our creed. No man can 
tell what to believe by the Bible." 

No, sir ! You said not well. Few of the common people sympa- 
thize with you. Your spirit savors not of God, but of Rome. Your 
contradictions are not mysteries, but mockeries. Your denuncia- 
tions are not devotion, but delusion. No! No, most of your people 
believe the Bible, that Jesus is the Son of God, and with angels sing : 

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, 
To receive riches, and honor, and glory, 
Wisdom and strength and dominion 
With universal thanksgiving. 

So passed away foui years of his busy life at Des Moines. Then came 
the following letter from the secretary of a new corporation: 

Merom, Indiana, December 23, 1859. 
Elder N. Summerbell, Des Moines, Iowa. 

Dear Sir: I have the honor of informing you that the Board of 
Trustees of Union Christian College, at their recent meeting at Indian- 
apolis, has unanimously chosen you to the Presidency of the aforesaid 
college, now in process of erection at MeTom, Indiana. Hoping that 
you may see the wisdom of God in this call, which alone can determine 
action, I am yours, most humbly and faithfully, 

N. G. Buff, Secretary. 

This was a delight to the children, but to Elder Summerbell it was 
no happiness to consider giving up his projects of conquests for the 
Master in the new country. The work in Iowa, brief as had been the 
service there, gave promise of wonderful development. The suggestion 
of leaving it saddened him. Other letters came, and finally he felt that 
he was shown a door to greater usefulness for Jesus than he could expect 
to attain in Iowa. He said to mother : 

This is providential; it is from the Lord. We have lost Antioch ; 
we have no college. But this will shorten our lives. But yon see how 
the brethren write. They have confidence that we can establish the 
school. 

He reasoned that in Iowa he must do much of the work alone. But 
at the new college he could train many to be as efficient as himself. 
His determination was formed. But in the new field he saw ahead of 
him pioneer work again, though of a different kind. And he sent the 
following letter to the secretary of the new college: 

Des Moines, Iowa, January 12, 1860. 
N. G. Buff, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Your letter of December 23, 1859, containing the unex- 
pected announcement of my election to the presidency of Union Chris- 
tian College, after a long journey by railroad and mail coach, found its 
way to my western home. Notwithstanding the arduous labors and 
great responsibility attending the position, yet the interest which T feel 
in the mental and moral culture of our children, induces me, with 



134 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

trembling anxiety, to accept the trust to which I have been thus unex- 
pectedly called, looking for the faithful cooperation of those who have 
appointed me, and above all, to Him for aid, in whom alone is all 
sufficiency. Yours very truly, 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

N". G. BufF, Secretary of Board of Trustees of Union Christian College. 

The college was just starting. It had no faculty, no students, no 
buildings (except a small old "academy "), no prestige; everything was 
to begin. It meant labor and careful organization. The college only 
consisted of a president and board of trustees, with a building fund of 
about thirty-five thousand dollars contributed by the citizens of the 
village of Merom and the vicinity, subscribed for the purpose of secur- 
ing the location of the college at that point. The charter of the college 
had been secured from the legislature on the condition of the raising of 
a large sum of money, perhaps forty or sixty thousand dollars. Prob- 
ably the forty thousand was to be for incidentals and sixty thousand for 
endowment. On finding the financial requirement, President Sum- 
merbell immediately began an active canvass to raise the required 
money, doing very much of the work himself. He personally visited 
many parts of Indiana, and secured the money needed to make the cor- 
poration lawful. 

Like many western colleges, a large part of the school was included in 
what was properly called the preparatory department. In the first year, 
Prof. Ira W. Allen, A.M., LL.D., gave great assistance in establishing a 
course of study on the grade of Harvard College at that time, and in 
organizing the school. The second year the president was assisted by 
ReV. E. W. Humphreys, M.D., and Lewis Prugh, A.B. The scholar- 
ship of Allen and Prugh was of a very high order, and the determina- 
tion of Allen was that the grade, as to scholarship, should be, as he 
often expressed it, " first class." In this the president lent him full 
support, though it threw most of the students into the preparatory 
department. 

In the beginning the school was carried on in the old Academy 
building, for the present structure was not completed for two years. 
On entering the new building, and continuously during the presidency 
of Summerbell, the faculty was increased in number, as classes multi- 
plied, and students reached a higher grade, until at the end of his five 
years' service as president, the college had a moderate endowment, a 
good building, no debts, a school of over one hundred and twenty-five 
students in attendance at one time, and a good faculty. 

The intention of the first instructors of the school, N. Summerbell, 
Ira W. Allen, and others, was to make the scholarship equal to that 
of Harvard at that time. This high grade was maintained for years. 

In the last two years of the presidency of N. Summerbell a biblical 
department was carried on, on account of the large number of students 
in attendance at the college, who were preparing for the ministry. 

One of the features of the college that came to endear it to the people, 
was its high religious and spiritual tone. No students came Christians 



PERSONAL PERIL 135 

and went away infidels. The president's wife, Mrs. E. J. Summerbell, 
in the first year, established the Young People's Prayer Meeting in her 
own house "on the bluff," which has continued unto the present day as 
one of the prominent features of the college. From the beginning the 
young people made it their own, and it has maintained its popularity 
and usefulness. 

However, during the presidency of N. Summerbell at Union Christian 
College, the civil war broke out, at times drawing away students in 
large numbers ; and finally the desire to take a part in the war for his 
country took full possession of Summerbell himself. It was not, how- 
ever, until the strife had caused the whole land to feel, directly or 
indirectly, the evils of war. 

Near Merom there was a lodge of that order known during the war as 
the " Knights of the Golden Circle." To this lodge N. Summerbell was 
especially offensive, on account of his sermons in favor of the govern- 
ment, and his well known principles against slavery. Indeed, while he 
was pastor of the church at Cincinnati, between 1850 and 1855, he had 
presided over the first anti-slavery convention held west of the Alle- 
gheny mountains, Fred. Douglass being a guest at his house. During 
the war the lodge near Merom, just spoken of, in one of their meetings 
•determined that three men, the provost marshal, Rev. John Phillips, 
and N. Summerbell, should be killed. But the United States govern- 
ment had a spy in the meeting of the lodge, and on his making known 
to the officers the determination of the lodge to assassinate the three 
men, the administration sent word to them, advising them to leave the 
neighborhood for a time, until the excitement should abate, not yet 
wishing to make arrests. The provost marshal immediately went, it 
was said, to the northern part of the State. Elder Phillips came to 
Merom and spent much time in the parlor, locked up with Summer- 
bell, trying to persuade him to go away with him. On their coming 
from the room, Phillips, an ardent friend of Summerbell, was in tears. 
Phillips went to Ohio for a time, but the next morning, Sunday, Sum- 
merbell preached a sermon in favor of supporting the government. He 
said that he had been warned that he was to be killed, but he felt that 
heaven was as near there as anywhere. In this saying he was possibly 
consciously or unconsciously quoting from the similar speech of Elder 
Wm. Kinkade in the early territorial legislature of Illinois, who was 
arguing against slavery in the State which was just being organized, and 
said, when they brandished weapons as they crowded around him to 
stop his speaking, " Heaven is as near here as anywhere. Mr. Speaker, 
I was saying," etc. Summerbell preached an excellent sermon for 
patriotism, aud was unusually eloquent. 

But the time came that he could not resist the impulse to have a part 
in the great struggle. In 1863 he became chaplain of the 115th regiment 
of Indiana volunteers, (Colonel Hawn), General Wilcox being com- 
mander of the brigade, who were enlisted for the period of six months. 

Concerning this time and the work at the college, J. S. Boord, who 
was one of the students, speaks as follows: 



136 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

He visited every part of the building, from cupola to basement, and 
guarded well every department under his charge. He was firm, but 
courteous; over- worked, yet giving aid to others; poorly paid, yet cheer- 
fully giving; wronging no one, he often suffered wrong. It was in the 
midst of troublesome times. Treason threatened our free institutions. 
He was loyal and gave aid to his country; he suffered but did not com- 
plain ; at the risk of his own life he saved the life of a fellow-comrade, 
carrying him on a wearisome march; he lay upon the ground in mid- 
winter with the soldiers, rather than accept better hospitality, which 
they could not share. 

The carrying of a soldier is in allusion to an incident that took place 
in the retreat of our forces, while Elder Summerbell was chaplain. The 
men were much worn; many were wounded and sick. Chaplain Sum- 
merbell had already loaned his horse to a wounded soldier, and w T as him- 
self walking. He saw a sick or weak soldier stagger from the way and 
sink down. He went to him, raised him up, and actually bore him up 
the hill, a distance, perhaps, of nearly a mile. The hill was called a 
mountain. On reaching the top, a stalwart soldier, six feet high, stepped 
to Chaplain Summerbell and thanked him. A look of inquiry caused 
him to say, " The man that you carried up the mountain was my brother. 
I could not have done it. I thank you for it." 

Brother Boord continues as follows : 

It was his habit to make short visits to all the members of the church. . 
Once when making a present to a small boy who had been named 
" Summerbell," he said as he presented a Bible : 

" This is the rule our God hath given 
To guide our souls from earth to heaven." 

Every Sabbath he lectured or rather talked to the Sunday-school on 
Bible stories, such as the lives of David, Noah, Saul, Daniel, Joseph, 
Mary, Ruth, etc., and often ended with questions such as these: 

How was Ruth related to David ? 

How was Ruth related to Naomi ? 

Were the Moabites children of Abraham ? 

His conduct in the army was wonderfully attractive to the common 
soldiers, who regarded him with the deepest reverence and love. His 
work for them was so varied; his sacrifices so constant; his appreciation 
of their experiences and needs so true that the soldiers almost idolized 
him. One whole sabbath day he worked with his own hands laying up 
the bricks of the chimney of a hospital. 

He was incessantly active. He preached as naturally as the birds 
sang. In some divisions of the army the chaplains would get the aid 
of the officers to assemble the men for religious services. But Summer-, 
bell had no difficulty in getting audiences without the assistance of 
commanders. He would stroll, in the evening, up to a group of men 
about a fire, and ask them when they had had church. Once or twice 
the reply was : 

" Haven't had any church for a month. Chaplain \s drunk." 

The aspersion on the chaplain was probably false ; but Summerbell 
would say : 



ARMY PREACHING 13T 

"Well boys, if you will get some one to sing, I will be back here in 
half an hour and preach for you." 

Then he would joke and laugh with the men, walk away, return 
according to appointment, and without light or manuscript preach a 
sermon that would excite the admiration and love of the men, and 
stimulate them to higher and better work along every line of their duty. 
In such preaching he had a wonderful advantage over most preachers 
from his wonderful knowledge of the Bible. He would sometimes 
begin his services by standing in the firelight, repeating whole chapters 
from the Scriptures. The dignity of the biblical diction, the full 
acquaintance with every word of the passages quoted, and the eloquent 
delivery of the words of the grand old book, would seize upon the 
attention of the soldiers, they would crowd all about, aud the audience 
would grow to full size for one strong voice to reach, and with silent 
attention they would strive to catch every word«of the eloquent speaker. 

As he would preach they would gradually grasp the fact that here 
was a man for whom they need make no excuses ; a man whose heart 
was with them, and whose heart was also with God; logical, witty,, 
tender, highly intelligent, and a true comrade. 

We find the following fragment of a report made by him, among his 
papers: 

Second Quarterly Report of N. Summerbell, Chaplain 115th Regiment 
Indiana Volunteers. 

Indianapolis, February 6, 1864. 
To Col. Hawn, Commanding. 

Respected Commander : From the date of my former report until 
the latter part of November, nothing transpired out of the ordinary 
course of camp life. I preached from once to three times per week and had 
no reason to complain of my regiment, either as regarded officers or men. 

The morale of the army was much the same as that of the same class 
of people at home; fully equal, if not superior. At most of the meetings, 
sinners volunteered in the army of Jesus; in many cases manifesting a 
deeper work of grace than found at home, with greater church privileges. 
As most of our meetings were held after night, without the benefit of 
candle, lamp, or torch light, the Scriptures were read from memory, the 
converts spake from feeling, the sermons were without notes, and the 
fellowship was of all. 

The names of the church members and record having been lost during 
the extreme sufferings and exposure of the first of January, I can only 
give the number of the members from memory, '86. This number 
included the brigade surgeon, Dr. Blackwell, and other members of 
General Mahau's staff, with both our regimental surgeons, Doctors 
Slavens and Cooper, captains and other officers. A majority of the 
members were converts or reclaimed backsliders. We had' but one case 
of expulsion, nor did we have cause of complaint of the deportment of 
any other member. 

We have had but one communion service as so many of our Sabbaths 
are spent in marching and other military exercises. This communion 
season, by the courtesy of General Mahan, became a brigade meeting, 
the ministers of the other regiments attending. It was a good season. 
Rev. Mr. Steward, of the 118th; Rev. Mr. Newgent, of the 116th; and 
Rev. Mr. McConkey, of Greenville, (village church — Presbyterian) 
assisting me in the service. The meeting-house was the green hillside, 
the dome, the broad sky. The grassy sward afforded . . . 



138 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The remainder of the MS. is lost. 

The diary which was lost during the January exposure referred to in 
the foregoing fragment of report, but long afterward recovered, contains 
what is evidently, a list of church members and others, whose names 
were taken by the chaplain' for some purpose, evidently connected with 
his duties. The pages are probably according to companies. Nearly 
every name has connected with it, by close writing, so that the two 
names form a group, the name of some person at home, evidently for 
purpose of communication in case of accident to the soldier named. 
There are sometimes very suggestive entries with the names. We copy 
a few, as illustrative: 

FIELD OFFICERS. 

Members Camp Church of all who believe and obey the Bible, receive 
and love Jesus, and walk with God : 
Major Harry Woodsmale, (Ch.) 

Dr. J. Wooden, Gosport, Indiana. 
John A. Blackwell, M.D. 

Z. L. Slavens, M.D., Portland Mills [matter unintelligible]. 
J. S. Cooper, M.D., Mt. Meridian, Putnam County. 
Charles F. Hogate, Danville, Indiana. 
Captain Halbert. 

Wife, Mary E., Spencer, Owen County, Indiana. 
John F. Douglass. 

Sarah J., Quincy, Indiana. 
Joseph A. Goss, Gosport. 

Ephraim A., Gosport. 
James H. Hurd, Point Commerce, Greene County. 

Eleanor. 
James M. Thomas, Spencer. 

Sarah E. 
John Baker.— I want you to pray for me in every prayer. 
Marion Thompson, Manhattan, Putnan County, Indiana. 

Hugh Thompson. 
R. E. Hawley, Putnamville, Putnam County. 

Rev. R. Hawley, Putnamville (Presbyterian). 
John Burns. 

Caroline Burns, Coffee, Clay County, Indiana. 
John H. Holdaway, U. B. Church, refused to join Camp Church. 

The diary was lost on Summerbell's way north in charge of sick or 
convalescent soldiers, but was recovered long after the war, being re- 
turned, accompanied by the following note, which we print verbatim, 
leaving the blanks as in the original: 

Dear Sir : This book was picked up in the cars of the K. C. R. R. in 

1863 or '64 by of the Kentucky Regiment, and sent to , 

with the request to return it to the owner. The party receiving it soon 
after moved away, taking the book with his library. It was returned to 
Kentucky with the library some time since. The library was stored for 
a long time. I have recently obtained possession of it and find this book. 
I return it, thinking it may be of value to you even after so long a time. 

After Many Days. 

The manuscript of the foregoing note indicates the literary habit on 
the part of the writer, and the blanks left in the note do credit to his 
heart as well as his head. 



DIARY IN ARMY 139 

The following passages from the "book" may be of interest to the 
general reader: 

115th Indiana Volunteers left Indianapolis Wednesday, September 16, 
1863, for Tennessee. Sunimerbell arrived at Indianapolis 19th. Visited 
B. S. Hays, the artist, brother of Elder D. Hays, of Merom. He is an 
intelligent man. . . . 

Sunday, 20th.— On inquiry at camp, I found the 115th all, all gone. I 
visited the Soldiers' Home' but Barton Hays, Sr., was not there, and I 
left his stuff at Merrill's book-store. I visited General Noble and U. S. 
Quartermaster Eaton. Both are noble men. Attended United Brethren 
Church and heard a very poor sermon, and a hymn sung about God 
wreaking his vengeance on his Son. Horrible doctrine of semi-heathen 
religion, rot that good people should abandon. Took dinner with Oscar 
Kendrick, a very excellent man and a Christian minister. 3:00 p. M. — 
Preached for the "Invalid Corps" on the first Commandment of all. 
Officers thanked me. Major requested me to be their preacher. Good 
attendance and good attention. Lieutenant Crone followed me to say, 
"All were delighted," and to continue thanks. Night.— Stayed at B. S. 
Hays's, and had a talk on vicarious sacrifice and infant depravity (total), 
both of which sects are becoming ashamed of. 

Monday morning, 21st.— I must see to letters . . . buy cap, hat, cover 
for C. sack, straps, shirt (woolen), food, send trunk to Merom, and hasten 
to Tennessee to be present at the great battle every day expected. 

September 21st, 10 o'clock.— News of a great defeat of Rosecrans. Must 
hurry on. Copy of transportation, etc. ... At depot, 5 o'clock, met 
Quartermaster Justice of 118th. Said 115th had left Lexington overland 
130 miles and no transportation. I concluded to wait one day, or till 

Tuesday, 11 o'clock, and have Dr. Buck, Captain and others of 

118th for company. Finally, Quartermaster Justice gave me a blanket 
and persuaded me to leave my robe. I went home with Brother Ken- 
drick, 128 Davidson Street, to spend the night. Left Ball his letter. 
Bought bill books, $8.25; also extra 1 J dozen choice crayons, $4.50; one 
colloquial French, 35 ceDts; one Pocket Testament, 25 cents; coat and 
pants, $10.50; hat and "No. 115," $1.30; one shirt, $3.00, (then follow 
some unintelligible figures). Expense to this date $41.65, including silk 
pocket handkerchief, etc. 

22d. — At night, I stayed at Brother Isaac Hays's, on Meridian Street, 
south of first [illegible]. He is a good man, brother of David, and for a 
home joined the M. E. Church. He will not take the Gospel Herald, lest 
it should bias his children in religion (nor any R. paper). 

23d. — To-day I expect my horse. I will mail articles for both our 
papers and Journal, and one to my dear wife— Mrs. Summerbell, Merom, 
Indiana. If lost, so direct this book. This morning at 8, I met Mr. 
Beadle, of Company B, etc. . . . I took dinner with Judge D. McDonald, 
of corner Meridian and Washington Street. He advised me not to go to 
the army. 

3:30 p.m. — My horse don't come. I feel sad; gave a poor man a small 
donation ; bought eleven cheap collars ; will wait for the 5:30 train but fear. 
We know no real trouble while blest with a good home and kind friends. 

24th. — Stayed last night at Isaac Hays's. Took dinner on a cocoanut; 
disappointed about horse; telegraphed T. H. not to come, but be sent 
back. Ate supper on my cocoanut. 

25th.— Take train for Cincinnati; get to Jolly's at 1; sad story of 
Storms's son; take cars at 6:30 for Lexington, Kentucky; fell in with 
Mr. Ligo, of Pal.; put up witli J. E. Carson at Crab Orchard. A 
negro at Crab Orchard thought Mr. Buchanan's mind very complected. 
A merchant at Crab Orchard (farmer) opened a store to support his 
negroes, who could not support themselves on the farm (likely story). 
The neighbors give it a different version. 



140 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

26th. — Arrived at camp and put up with Doctor Cooper. 

27th. — Took cold dinner at Doctor Joplin's, 500 acres, 50 cents; negro 
went off a few days ago; camped on the banks of the Big Castle river. 

28th.— Crossed Wildcat Mountains; sent home a bullet picked up on 
B. Cat. Mountain battlefield; saw Secesh prisoners bound north; and 
near New London a lad died. 

29th.— More troops going on to Burnside; night; forty miles of Cum- 
berland Gap. 

30th.— Called on Mrs. Trosper, seven miles north of Barbersville. Her 
husband was shot by her Secesh neighbors, who are spared all loss by 
Union and Secesh, while she is regularly robbed twice a year by Mor- 
gan. At three o'clock arrived at Barberville, and camped for the night 
on Cumberland river, twenty-three miles north of Cumberland Gap, 
where I expect mail. No letter from home yet. 

October 1st.— Called on Mrs Ginney Arthuran, an old lady near three 
miles of Cumberland Ford. She run down Lincoln, the government, 
and the Union soldiers, and thought preachers in small business to be 
in army for war, etc. Quoted Jesus: "My kiugdom is not of this 
world, else would my servants fight." I told her that proved that his 
heavenly kingdom was an exception; that if his was an earthly king- 
dom, then even his servants would fight ; and hence it is expected that 
the citizens will fight. The Colonel kindly established a hospital at 
"Fat Lick," east of Barbersville seven miles, and left B. Hays and 
others. Three miles further east came to where our boys ( bush- 
whackers ) one year ago fired on Secesh ; woman told me, took all three 
horses. Her father begged one left, when they thrust him down with a 
bayonet in his mouth, wounding and kicking him. 

At night, after traveling all day in rain (heavy), camped at ford, 
fourteen or sixteen miles north of Cumberland Gap. Wet night. 

October 2nd. — Ready to start, but feed not being all up caused delay. 
Then General Wilcox, who is aloof from the men, far away all the time, 
said to General Mahan, "Only six months' men, and don't know what 
they can stand, and ordered them brought up from Fat Lick and us to 
wait. So here we wait. I will write to my dear Euphemia and children. 

October 3d. — Commenced march, 10 o'clock. Soon came to forks of 
road and river, rifle pits and fortifications of rebels; then to a simple 
mill, one water wheel horizontal, upright timber, and coffee-mill kind 
of mill above, with a little shed resting on four posts, grinding away. 
Just above it at the forks we came to Zollicoffer's camp, breastworks, 
and rifle pits. Cotterell, old man of Cumberland Gap, gave much 
information. Mr. Reynolds was the greatest scouter. I heard of Arch'd 
Austin. Wm. Baufmau, Union man, near camping ground. Left side 
near camp, six miles from Gap, and l-4th of 3d camped there. 

3:30 p. m.— Rebel raids heard of and camp guarded, etc. 

October 4th.— Arrived at Gap by a rough road, up zigzag and over top 
of mountain, down in the basin in which Kentucky, Tennessee and Vir- 
ginia corner, and camp in Virginia. 

October 5th.— Sunday. Preached John 1: 29; and P. M. for 18th on 
Galatians 6: 16; and Monday, 5 to 15, on Galatians 6. 

Gap all day. Mailed about five hundred letters. Received one from 
. . . first and only word from home. 

Tuesday morning. — Left Gap in great haste and marched twenty-three 
miles, and camped on Clinch River, which we forded and camped near, 
in the rain and the mud for the night. 

7th.— Marched at 5 ; sixteen miles. At 4 o'clock forded Bolston River 
and camped at 5:30. 

8th. -Marched at 5:30; six miles to Morristown, which was captured 
by General Burnside three or four weeks before. Met Wm. Fester, an 
old citizen (Union?), who has two sons pressed into the rebel service. 
Camped at 11:30, two miles east of Morristown on the Central Tennessee 



ARMY LIFE 141 

and Richmond Railroad, on the farm of a Union man ( though but one 
in ten miles and this is ) where no rails or forage were to be used. 
Attempted to have an appointment but failed, the men being sent to get 
corn for food. Some desired hay with the corn (joke). We had to 
pierce a plate and grate corn to cook for bread for breakfast. 

October 9th.— Then started for the rebels sixteen miles east on railroad. 
Marched twelve miles. At noon I took dinner, after passing Russellville 
(a small village), with Mr. Long, of Whitestown. Also became ac- 
quainted with George Isaacs, of that place. Then marched on to the 
camping of the army and camped. Provision scarce and no salt. Burn- 
side is to come up to-night and a large right is expected. Rebels about 
twenty thousand. Ohio boys took fifteen prisoners and nine foraging 
wagons. 

October 10th. — Orders to march on enemy at 7. Went out before regi- 
ment and saw General Burnside and staff pass; waited for regiment. 
Chaplain of 18th (Perky) sick, and remained with wagons. Barton 
Hays with wagons. Sick little attention. Rations small, one-fourth. 
No bread for supper on 9th, but had given away much to boys on 
march. 

Word from enemy that they defeated Meade at Richmond. 

10th. — Three o'clock, on the battlefield. General Mahan sent me 
back from the front, as he thought too much danger. I found 115th 
had turned back, and then to right, south to railroad, to prevent a flank 
movement by the enemy. Tbe sound of artillery is all we can hear 
now of the battle. 3:30 p.m. 

October 11th., Sunday. —Word from front, about sixty killed on our 
side. Rebels fall back. Ninth Massachusetts in a cornfiefd suffered most. 
Many riderless horses. Battle brisk at 7 o'clock. Think rebels pretty 
much surrounded, must fight or yield. I passed over battleground near 
Blue Spring (12) and bought a spur. First saw dead rebels, camp of rebels, 
etc. At Greenville called on Mr. Parks, who would have entertained 
me (night), but I had to take Captain Clugage his overcoat, which I 
carried for him; and the camp was so far I slept with him, out on the 
ground, without tent or supper. Took first cold. 

12th. — This morning ordered to stop. Went to General Wilcox's 
camp. Got off a mail and a letter home, and was vaccinated. Bought 
a $11 overcoat. No letter from home yet. 

13th. — Preached on prayer at 10. Dr. Wier took dinner and took mail 
to Knoxville. Dr. Blackwell (Presbyterian) and Dr. Slavens (of Green- 
castle) joined the church. Dr. Wier says rebels, 4,000 mounted men 
who have broken their parole, and fight for life. Drs. Blackwell and 
Slavens arrived in camp 12th. No letter from home. 

15th. — In camp, 11 o'clock. Received word (orders) to take charge of 
the mail. Proceeded to Greenville, but no cars being there, I waited. I 
took dinner with Mr. George M. Spencer. Two men hung for bridge- 
burning in sight of his house, for burning a railroad bridge (Frye and 
Hynchy). Their bodies hung twenty-four hours, and were buried under 
the northern limb on which they died. The yellow ground I saw on 
17th, but loving friends had removed the bodies. I stayed all night 
with Brother Parks, and on the 16th returned to camp, as I heard by 
telegram that the trains were ordered back. 

16th.— Good meeting; eight joined the church. Text, Rev. 3: 21. 

17th. — At 12 : 30 heard cars; 5: 30 started without breakfast for cars at 
Greenville. Took breakfast and dinner with Captain Mull, at office of 
Provost Marshal Lyons, of New York. At 3 p.m. I went to the cars. 
Lieutenant Mull took sixty-five rebel prisoners, and the rebel officers 
went into car with us. We waited till 8 p.m. Then a telegram an- 
nounced that the cars would not start till 7 a.m. I went to Brother 
Parks' s and lodged and breakfasted (good folks). The prisoners were 
impudent, but treated very kindly. At Knoxville (a hilly, pretty place, 



142 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

picturesque and romantic) I put up with Brother Hill (Boss Hill)'. Did 
not preach this 18th of October, Sunday, but rode on cars all day. 

19th. — Monday, selected mail for Ninth army corps, etc. Got a letter 
from L. D. Robinson, Cincinnati, with $30 draft to pay for my horse. 

20th. — Met Hazen, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, our quartermaster 
sergeant. Thus drunken fellows obtain place. Elder Perky, chaplain of 
118th Indiana ( Disciple ) ; I received his commission and gave it to him, 
but found that he had been dismissed from the regiment for drunkenness. 
Saw Maynard of Knoxville. Put up at La Mar House (poor house) and 
lost both my watch, keys, and comb. Met B. F. Allen, of Des Moines, 
and heard of Elder Lynn's son in army. 

19th. — I preached for some eastern soldiers, near headquarters of 
Ninth army corps. 

20th — Took cars for Greenville, etc. Saw the place of Blue Spring 
battle, and heard that Rosecrans was removed for Thomas and Meade 
for Sickles. 

20th. — All right in camp. 

21st.— Preached at night. Colonel Hawn thanked me and one joined 
the church. Hawn swears less. Quartermasters played cards with two 
candles burning, while twelve hospital sick, two near dying, lay in the 
dark. Quartermasters the worst men I find in army. This morning I 
find sick better. I got up last night at two to stop the swearing and 
found it was by twenty-seven of the 116th, whom our pickets had cap- 
tured while out foraging. 

22d.— I gave chaplain of 117th, Stewart, his commission (Methodist). 

The chaplain of — th, , has fallen in disgrace by, I fear, lending 

strumpets his pants. 

22d.— Preached ( Matt. 6) at night to 118th, and received the thanks of 
the officers in behalf of the regiment and urgent request to preach. I 
promised to preach for them once a week. Rev. Perky's best friends 
testify to his inebriety. 

23d. — Walked to town to see Lieutenant Culver and Major Lyon. It 
rained hard and I got quite wet, and feeling cold kept close. Word by 
telegram that General Meade is driven into Washington. Provost Mar- 
shal, i. e., Major Lyon, gives hope that we will soon have the railroad to 
Chattanooga. No candles in hospital, but tallow of nine beeves buried 
with the offals. This is to be remedied. Cold and rainy. Bad night, 
the ground wet, yet I slept on it tolerably well. In vespers, Dr. Black- 
well led at my request. 

24th. Cold and damp, muddy and disagreeable. I am not well. 

25th. — Sunday. I walked to Greenville and preached ( Mark 12 : 34 ) 
in the Presbyterian Church, Mr. McCorkey, pastor. Took dinner with 
Dr. E. N. Sheffer, of Greenville. Mr. Spencer sent for me, and he and 
Lawyer Dillinger walked to camp church. Chaplain Neugent, Chaplain 
Stewart and Rev. McCorkey took part. I preached on John 1 : 29, and 
administered communion. It w T as a good and solemn meeting; the 
general, colonels, and most of the brigade officers present. Rev. Mc- 
Corkey preached for me at night on "Depravity;" spoke of Adam, our 
federal head, if he had stood, all would have, etc. ( Calvin's Institutes.) 

October 26th.— Henry Hendricks, of Brazil, Company D., Captain 
Sanders, died Sunday night, 25th, of typhoid fever of standing since 
Camp Carrington. I wrote to his friend, Eli Hendricks, at Brazil, this 
October 26th. I will preach his funeral after twelve, noon. Preached 
Sunday night, October 25th. Letters— one from L. D. R., Cincinnati, and 

three in one from Euphemia, Joseph, and Mary. doing poorly. 

Hall well. School good. Number ninety. Lapham absent. Joseph 
filling her place. John gone. Etc. 

26th. — Monday. Funeral of Hendricks. Buried at church east of 
Greenville, back, east corner of vault. 

26th. Company B., MulPs, one guard, in sport, killed another. 



CHAPLAIN DIARY 143 

27th. Funeral of the above. Laid beside Hendricks. Wrote home . 
for Dawson, 26th. Died 27th. 

28th. — Ordered to Knoxville for mail and now in bed, Franklin House, 
Knoxville. Bad news from Burnside; that he retreated over ( back ) of 
the river at London. 

29th.— On cars. At cars saw John Adams. He is a private and lame. 
I stayed all night at Franklin House, 50 cents. Ran up to Morristown 
and flue of locomotive gave out, and we stayed all night in cars, Next 
day heard no use going up as rebels had defeated us. 

30th.— At 3 p.m. train took me to Greenville, and found there had 
been no battle. At Knoxville I searched for Robert Huff, but failed, 
and left his letter at Summit Hospital. 

31st.— Rainy night; storm; disagreeable. Tent near blowiug down. 

November 1st.— Fair ; preached, 10 : 30 on Bible, in 115th. ; 2:30 on infi- 
delity, 118th., and 7 :30on " What Is Man? » in 115th; three joined church. 

2d.— Fair summer day. Went to see Mr. Robertson, aged 76, Presby- 
terian. Made up mail. 3:30, alarm. All to arms. 5:30, all over and 
return to camp. It was a pretty sight to see the regiments hurry, form, 
and march on double quick (run) to find the enemy. They. thus ran six 
miles, all in fine spirits. Four rebels were taken, but no army was near. 
This prevented preaching to-night, as the men returned late, after a 
march of twelve miles, warm, and had to get supper. News from 
Knoxville promises a larger mail to-morrow. 

Our General W continues to wear out our boys, guarding rebel 

property. Captain Harrah, though sick, was well enough to run six 
miles at the head of his company, to find the enemy. The officers and 
men acted well. Dr. Cooper dressed the arm of a boy whose horse fell 
with him while bringing us word. Dr. Slavens used my. saddle and 
bridle, so that I would have been minus both, if needed. 

3d. — Received marching orders, after building a chimney. 

4th.— Paid 40 cents, price $1.90 per 100. In all paid $8.10, and the Union 
Tennesseean had to take the brick back. 

5th. — Alarm; enemy near; march orders; rainy. 

6th. — I went to Greenville and got a McClelland saddle, and rigged up 
a bridle. Returning, heard cannon. Battle raging twelve miles off E. 
E. N. E. Our camp quiet and indifferent. 

8th.— 9:30, 10:30. Cannon cease; 11:30, I received word to go to 
Knoxville. Four o'clock at headquarters of General Wilcox. Word 
that Ninth and Tenth Tennessee, and battery, and sixty wagons and 
three hundred and sixty mules, with much stock and many horses all 
captured, with provisions, ammunition, clothing, etc, all captured by 
enemy. Of course we should have started to recapture, but were ordered 
to march to Bull (?) Gap. Started at dusk and marched twenty-one 
miles by four o'clock in the morning; road rough; through brooks, mud, 
etc., fully half the men falling out and sleeping in the fence corners. 
At the Gap, station pickets of infantry and batteries. At daylight got 

breakfast at Mr. -, who had come in from sleeping out, to avoid rebel 

conscription. 

7th.— Saturday, 2 p.m., alarm; 7 p.m., pitched tent and slept well. 

8th — Sunday, clear, and cold, and windy. Appointment to preach at 
10:30 (P. 14, "Fool") and did; and by request preached at three to a 
North Carolina regiment, (John 3:16).' General Mahan has been sick 
two or three days, but rode his horse and commanded the skedaddle. 

9th. — Monday. It being reported that there were no rebels this side 
of Greenville, General Wilcox rode out boldly, smoking his pipe. 
Bought a horse, saddle, and bridle, $200. Horse to government. 

10th. — Tuesday, cold; skirmish, and lost a lieutenant of cavalry. A 
brigade of about 1,200 rebs. near. 

11th. — Wednesday, preached at night on Mat. 16:26. Four joined. 
Tuesday bought a sheepskin of Buckley for saddle. 



144 SUMMERBELL. AND WRITINGS 

12th.— Thursday. Thompson came up; better. Mayfield and Tom 
Pierson went to Knoxville hospital. 

13th.— Friday. Camp quiet. I started for Knoxville at seven. 
Stopped at General Wilcox's headquarters for mail. Rev. Stewart, of 
seventeenth, requested to go with me and I declined in his favor, and he 
went to Knoxville ; but the mail came on Friday night. Letters from 

Joseph and R , one inkstand ; second twenty dollars from home. I 

had not a cent by me ; but Dr. Slavens owes two dollars borrowed and 
forty-five brick, and Captain Harrah eighty for brick. 

November 14, 1863. — Captain Harrah moved. I messed with him 
since September 27, morniug, and Henry Cowgill, a private from Green- 
castle, son of Dr. Cowgill, came in with Dr. Slavens and took my place 
(bed), and I took Captain Harrah's place in bunk with Doctor Cooper; 
7:30 p.m., orders came to cook three days' rations and prepare to move. 

14th.— Jo left us to-day. Black Luke came with us 6th, p.m., or 7th, 
a.m., one week ago. Now we miss Tom the cook. 

15th.— Rumors of leaving, but no move. 

November 15th.— Sunday. Too wet and cold to preach. 

16th.— Monday. Harrah moved from our mess. 

17th.— Tuesday. Visited Company B., Captain Mull. Traded gloves 
for blanket, with Buckley: 

18th. — Marched at four o'clock twenty-one miles to Beal's Station, fear- 
ing to be cut off, as cars cease to come and telegraph communication cut 

off with Knoxville. Left George dying on the ground. Took the 

hospital tent from over him. Mr. , citizen, promised to bury him. 

19th.— At Beal's Station. All East Tennessee was abandoned. Here 
at Mr. Whiteside's. Showed me his blacks. Three children of one of 
them were white, with light hair and blue eyes. The mother was 
white, with no negro look or feature; so intelligent and ladylike, that I 
asked her master if she was his sister. The grandmother was dark as 
an Indian, but with Roman nose and French countenance. The master 
answered that the way to tell them from white folks was by a mark in 
the ear. We lay here all day Thursday, and at 4 : 30 p.m.* I preached 
the funeral of Second Lieutenant Raymond, of Twenty-first Ohio 
Battery, at General Wilcox's headquarters, Major Lyon, of New York, 
and Captain Hutchins, both of the staff, superintending. I wrote to 
the Herald at Eaton. After the funeral I rode with Brigade Surgeon 
Blackwell over Clinch Mountain, and camped in a brier patch. 

20th. — Friday. Marched to Tazewell, a Jbeautiful village, burnt a 
year ago by rebs., and camped on hill back of college, nine miles from 
the rebel forces, so reported. 

21st.— Saturday. After a rainy night, at 1 a.m., all aroused to get up 
and prepare to march at five. All began; but I went to Colonel Hawn, 
who on hearing, etc., requested me to bid them rest till 3:30, which I 
did, to the joy of all. At daybreak we started in the heavy rain. 
Heavy rain all day. I loaned George Langheart my oil-cloth, and 
Doctor Cooper begged my cape;" so I suffered from the rain, which fell 
in torrents all day. At four reached the Cumberland Gap, and passed 
over to Virginia two miles. Got mail. No letter from home. 

22d. — Sunday. Sun out. Forgot the day and worked most of the 
forenoon. Preached at night. 

23d. — Received haversack, vest and filter from home. Rode to Cum- 
berland Gap and viewed front of cave ; but Doctor Cooper would not 
venture up and in. Preached at night to Company B. on Rom. 1 : 16. 
Also let go my McClellan saddle to Quartermaster Fordyce, who re- 
ceipted for it and canceled charge for pants and socks, three dollars and 
something. Slept well. 

24th. — Rainy, quiet. Got some flour. A. died last night of congestive 
fever. Funeral at 1 p.m. We then marched out of Virginia, through a 
corner of Tennessee into Kentucky, via. Cumberland Gap, saving a bit 



ARMY DIARY ABBREVIATION 145 

of the corner stone of three States. We marched down the hill of 
Cumberland Mountain and camped in bottom half mile from the creek. 

25th.— Wednesday, 4 p.m. Weather raw and cold. Moon full 
eclipsed. We marched 5 a.m., half mile to creek, too deep to ford; 
mules and wagons stuck in mud. Whole army halts one or two hours. 
Some got round; I forded; wet. Waited one mile on, two hours, and 
camped at noon in a bottom, north side same creek. 

26th. — Thursday morning, marched back to Virginia over to S. S. C. 
Mountains, and made a pleasant camp among pines in a cove on a 
ridge. Preached at 7 rm. 

27th.— Friday. Cold and raw. Have a cold. 

28th.— Saturday. Pleasant. 

29th.— Sunday. Cold, snow. Funeral of a soldier. Built a chimney 
of stone. 

30tb.— Monday. Regiment paid off. I took none. Little John de- 
posited forty dollars with me. Little to eat. Bought Sutliff a loaf. 
' December 1st.— Tuesday. Marched to Tazewell. 

December 2d.— Pleasant, but cold nights. Wednesday, marched to 
B. church near Clinch River. Battle; heavy artillery. Morning at six 
attended funeral at Tazewell of a boy of twenty, Third Indiana; shot 
himself by revolver falling from his bosom; died in three hours. Fed 
three miles southwest, of Tazewell and left my gloves, but as there was a 
battle in front, I did not return. Stayed at Widow Fuget's; all rebs. ; 
son in rebel service, lieutenant; seventy-five cents for bed and break- 
fast. JSTo horse feed. Met James Richardson, of Yellow Springs, Ohio. 
Does not look well ; Second Ohio, Cavalry. Stayed all night at farm- 
house ; seventy-five cents for one. 

December 3d. — Thursday. Pleasant. Rebs. fallen back. Wednesday, 
it was quite a battle. Principally by artillery. They report 116th and 
118th engaged, and two hundred and fifty rebs. killed and wounded. 
We lost very few, ten or a dozen killed and wounded ; 116th and 118th, 
one or both, waded Clinch River, waist deep, and fought well. Major 
Lyon and General Wilcox were at the river, our side. Wilcox dodged 
one shell. Pleasant. Stayed all night at Jennings's; all the males in 
Union army and .home with army- Charge seventy-five cents. Thurs- 
day night stayed at Shumack's, and was invited to Hodge's, a Baptist 
preacher. 

4th.— Friday. Preached at 10 a.m. and at 4 p.m. Marched through 
Big Springs to ford on Clinch, three miles beyond Sycamore. Stayed 
at a house. Met Colonel Matson, of 71st, and heard of Doctor Wier at 
Knoxville. Throat sore. 

5th.— Saturday. Marched at daybreak back to Sycamore in rain, and 
put up at Mr. Shutz's. Received letter from my dear brother, Rev. B. F. 
S., Providence, Rhode Island. Saturday, 4 p.m., marched back one mile 
and camped in a meadow in the open air, watching for the enemy. 
Saw Oliver Phillips and others of the 71st Cavalry (6th Indiana Cavalry.) 
Oliver was well, but that Saturday night had cramp colic badly. 

6th.— Sunday. Went over and got acquainted with Rev. , of 

—st. A good fellow, but not much of a preacher. Intellect low. Rode 
out with him Sunday morning, 7 a.m., when we marched back to 
Sycamore, and Doctor Cooper and I put up with Mr. Shutz again. Sun- 
day 2 p.m., tried to get a chance to preach, in vain; 3 p.m., requested by 
Colonel Hawn to go back to Cumberland Gap to see to the sick. Told 
the boys to prepare letters and that I'd preach at 7 p.m.; 4 p.m. regiment 
marched to Clinch River to meet enemy. Artillery of 12th Michigan 
came up; 71st Indiana came up; 129th Ohio came up. Preached a 
family sermon. Sunday night at Shutz's. 

7th.— Monday, 5 a.m., awakened by battle; artillery below our regi- 
ment; 6:30, proceeded on way to Cumberland Gap. Haifa mile, stopped 
at hospital and gave away all my (fifty cents' worth) ham and most of my 

10 



146 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

corn bread; 9:10 a.m., met 116th and 117th Indiana going on. At ten 
passed Big Spring. At eleven got to Tazewell and found mail, and for- 
warded it to regiment by Corporal Martin. Letter from Euphemia. 
Received of Captain Hutchins twenty dollars for Lieutenant Childers, 
1st Tennessee Battery, and paid it to Colonel Lemits on the 8th for 
Childers. Doctor Blackwell, brigade surgeon, desired me to send sick to 
Camp Nelson. Slept at Mr. Brooks's, seven miles of Gap. Doctor Leech, 
of 9th Michigan Cavalry, put twelve wagons in my charge for above 
purpose. Found camp in bad condition. About eighty sick, all under 
Lieutenant Thompson, a worthless card player. Doctor Thomas had 
arranged with him to superintend the caravan of sick, fifteen from each 
of 115th, 116th, 117th, 118th, to Camp Nelson. Found Doctor Slavens 
worn out and recovering of fever. Stayed with him at Chadwell's. 

8th. — 9:18, went with the wagons. Afterward I got six, twenty- 
four in all. Then got Boon and a cavalryman in hospital at Gap. Got 
provisions, etc. for camp. Got horse shod and attended a funeral, 116th 
Indiana Volunteer, and put up at Chadwell's. Disturbed at night by 
him and others coming in drunk. None of the family can read. 

9th. — Wednesday. Boys went to Camp Nelson. 

10th. — Morning. Wrote this and will go to Gap. Doctor Slavens is 
better. Names of six whom I sent to C. N. : Wyatt S. Pearson, John 
Greer, John V. Boling, John N. Seybold, Robert C. Fulton, John W. 
Moore. 

11th.— Friday. Having changed my watch for a revolver, I gave the 
revolver for a watch, hunter case, and six dollars extra, and let my 
extra pony go for five dollars on. 

12th. — Saturday morning, and my sheepskin too for fifty cents. I 
paid ten; twenty dollars to Little John, and put it top of due-bill, and 
took forty due some man. 

13th. — Sunday. Preached to 115th, Rev. 11, "Two Witnesses," and 
for 117th, Mark 12:34, u The Great Commandment,"' and bought forty- 
five cents' worth of sweetcake for dinner. Heard the regiment at 
Clinch Ford and rebs. disorganized. Doctor Slavens, a very good sur- 
geon and Christian, is recovering. Henry Cowgill, sergeant, sickly, 
of Greencastle, left on wagon train for Camp Nelson. I gave him my 
poorest haversack. I am putting up at Mr. Chadwell's. 

14th.— Monday. Rain and disagreeable. Dr. Slavens better. We all 
start for regiment, 15th. 

15th. — Started for regiment Tuesday, but Colonel Lamert, commander 
of brigade, desired me to remain to see to the sick. I went with the 
doctor to Mr. England's, on Tazewell road, and stayed all night and 
returned. Colonel Lamert desired me to remain, etc. Hard fighting on 
Clinch. Cannon all day; 117th Indiana and 129th Ohio reported taken; 
also twenty-three wagons, corn, and sugar. 

16th. — I attended the sick, visited, etc. funeral of one, and slept in 
dog tent. 

17th.— Visited all the camps and also 116th Illinois Cavalry. Their 
chaplain reported bad. 

18th. — Preached for 118th convalescent camp. 

19th.— Saturday morning. Went to Gap over mountains. Train 
started. Went over mountains to get 118th ready. Returned again over 
Gap and Colonel Lamert informed me I must go to Camp Nelson. 
Hastened back to camp and warned 115th all who were able to march 
to go. Went back over to Gap for rations. So crossed Cumberland 
Mountain six times and marched two miles, and slept without tent, etc. 
Slept 17th in dog tent; 18th in "A" tent with ex- Lieutenant Leechman, 
a Scotchman of Lafayette, Indiana. 

December 20th. — Sunday. Left one wagon. Sunday morning started 
at 7 a.m. All teams stalled; roads very bad. Cavalry horse of 116th 
Illinois fell over precipice and killed. Sent report back to Colonel Lamert.. 



NOTES OF WAR EXPERIENCES 147 

21st. — Monday. Left wagon. Died, Speilman. Buried at Cum- 
berland Ford. Wrote to Colonel Lamert at night for Isaac Stewart, 
eighty-three years old, to protect his house, Middletown Station, Knox 
County, Stinkey Creek. 

22d. — Tuesday. Left one wagon at Isaac Stewart's (he is a rebel 
eighty- triree years old.) Went four miles, and the wagon-master 
foraged and went three; two drivers forsook mules and wagons. 
Camped in valley. Sat up making tea for the sick till three past mid- 
night. 

23d.— Cloudy morning; hard hills. A wagon train, (Garoutte, master), 
had much trouble in the night stalling; I endeavored in vain to get 
teamster to fix it and went and did it myself. Teams crossed well. 
Camped at meeting-house near Laurel River, in Laurel County ; invited 
to preach. Camped in booths. Text, Ps. 50. Brother Ford, Baptist, 
invited me to his house to sleep and breakfast. 

24th. — Morning. Went on. Came in Barbersville road beyond 
bridge (?) of Laurel River. Came to London (?) ten miles. Met Doctor 
Sheaffer. Bought $5.50 boots. To Camp Pitt? Drew rations six days. 

Sent my horse back six miles for Mr. Shoe, of 18th . Grimes sick ; 

Burnside better; Scott worse; Grinns (?) worse; Shoe wwse. I sat up 
and made tea. George Wm. MahafTy sick, and I took tea for diarrhoea. 
Sergeant Ball first rate. Sat up most of the night to make up medicine 
for the boys. 

25th. — Christmas. Several boys, Burnside, Jarvis, Grimes, Shoe, of 
118th, no worse. Travel to Rock Castle River. Took dinner at Mr. 
Pinkston's. His house, a large one, was stripped, and all his farm robbed 
and destroyed by Kirby Smith. All furniture, clothing, etc., and woman 
advised to cross Ohio River. Dinner, 30 cents. Isaac Stewart, see four 
days ago, was a reb. Story of him. Brother-in-law of Pinkston's. 
Pinkston is for Union, but rather fight for South if fight at all. Pinkston 
keeps the large house on the hill. Slept with Sim in W. . . . December 
25th — Night cloudy. Camp on river bank. 

26 th. — Saturday. Crossed Rock Castle River. Story of crossing. Boat. 
Jumping out. Blowing up mountain. Heavy rain. Horrible roads. 
Come up to post on R. C. Mountain. Rain. Dinner. Went one mile 
ahead to sleep. Reb. spies. Lonely. Slept in house on floor. 

27th. — Sunday. Dreadful mountain road. Horrible descent. Mules 
die. Four left. Sleep at Jones, foot of mountain, at post. Offer him 
five dollars to let boys sleep in room by fire. Seek relief for them of 
Quartermaster (none). I sleep in house and "have supper ; boys in loft, 
shed, etc. Major of 8 M. Cavalry and W. Master. Story of W. M. and 
boot. Cold. 

28th.— Monday. Got boys in forage wagons. Tw T o miles to pike. 
Richmond battle ground. Kingston. Cold. Rogersville. I go ahead 
to three miles of Richmond, and seek camp on White's farm, and find it 
on Bale's. Send six boys sick to Garman's house. 

29th.— Tuesday. Passed through Richmond. Pretty place. Pretty 
cemetery. Churches. Asked if Union men, none if see their heart. 
Sergeant Ball stopped in Richmond to get mainspring to watch fixed, 
and come up at night. We met Johnson, a drunken Government con- 
tractor, who offered to treat me. Burnet, wagon master, took. Put up 
on Slate Creek. Denny's. The first Union man since beyond Richmond. 
Member legislature. His wife invited me to house to put up. Soon he 
came and did same. Granted me a good house for sick aud gave me 
milk, etc. ... Of rebs. to catch Denny. Chased. Fled to mountains. 
Story of Denny and wife. Took twenty-eight horses, all corn, eighty 
acres, etc., etc. Government contractors rebels. Drunk, while a reb. 
government gives one dollar a bushel for corn, etc., etc. . . . Asked to 
have Sergeant Ball come and stay with me. Praj'ers. Mrs. Denny 
(mother) 80. All Presbyterians. 



148 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

30th.— Camp Nelson. Rainy. My cold worse. 

31st.— Cold. Icy. Walked to Nicholasville and railroad to Covington. 

Then follows the following entry in fresher pencil writing : 

" Here this book was lost . . . and returned after years in Cincinnati." 

He was a natural commander and leader. Although he was only 
chaplain in the army, his influence was felt far more widely than such 
an office would indicate. Even where he was not personally known, 
through sheer force of talent and masterly manner he often had control. 

Once, when he was detached from his regiment, and even his division, 
the army being in retreat from the rebels, he came to a river where 
there was a jam of troops. A wagon was in the midst of the stream, 
and the drivers were vainly attempting to extricate the team. A mule 
had fallen in the water, and, in trying to rise, had become' entangled in 
the harness, and had at last turned over, his back toward the bottom, 
and at this moment only his head and feet were sticking out of the 
water. When Chaplain Summerbell approached, an officer sitting on 
his horse on the bank, with his staff around him, shouted out to the 
teamsters: 

" Knock that mule in the head." 

Chaplain Summerbell roared across, "Knock that officer in the head." 

Then he rode into the water, coming close to the fallen mule, quickly 
gave directions to cut a strap here and another there, and in three or 
four minutes the mule freed himself, or was freed, from the harness, 
regained his feet, and the team passed on, and the way was cleared for 
the troops. Chaplain Summerbell, knowing what an audacious act he 
had done, not recognizing the general officer and not being himself 
recognized, felt that his own safety depended on speedy disappearance. 
Accordingly, he galloped off as rapidly as possible. During his command 
of the teamsters in the water, the officer upon the bank said nothing 
whatever; perhaps imagining that Chaplain Summerbell was some 
general officer superior to himself, for his overcoat gave no revelation of 
his rank. He was never called to account for what he had done. 

There were forms of punishment practiced in the army that tended to 
degrade the manliness of the men. Summerbell would nearly always 
succeed in having these punishments mitigated or made less humiliating 
in their form, when the offense was a petty one. 

Various forms of corruption he checked and suppressed. On one occa- 
sion his denunciations of a certain group of officers, whom he had dis- 
covered using the cordials and wines intended for the sick men, were so 
stormy and vehement that one of the colonels expostulated with him, 
saying: 

"Good God, Chaplain, you will ruin .us all if you talk so loud. We 
will all be cashiered." 

But the chaplain was not to be appeased nor quieted until the officers 
had promised, on their honor, that the abuses complained of should be 
fully abated. Officers honored and respepted him. He seemed to gain 
an influence that was out of all proportion to his station, and though he 




Chaplain N. Summerbell. 



INFLUENCE AGAINST PROFANITY 149 

was often arrayed against an officer of high rank and in favor of some 
poor private, those in command came to love him with a feeling akin to 
that of the private soldiers. 

One night he came near a fire, about which, as he approached, he 
heard violent swearing. As he came up to it, he exclaimed : 

"Who is that swearing so hard?" 

No one replied. 

" Who is it," said Surnmerbell ; " I want to make a bargain with him." 

"That fellow over there," said a soldier, pointing out a man, who at 
the word looked ashamed. 

" Now look here; I want to make a bargain with you ; I want you to 
promise me that you will not swear until I have had my turn." 

"All right," said the soldier. 

Summerbell then sat down with the men, began to tell stories, laugh, 
and joke, and won them all as a congenial comrade. After a consider- 
able time, the swearing soldier said : 

"Chaplain, when are you going to take your turn at swearing? I 
want to begin again." 

"Oh, as soon as I find anything to swear at, or have any reason to 
swear." 

Then he talked about the nature of profanity, about the propriety of 
keeping clean lips and hearts ; how the words a man uttered came to 
color his nature, and finally left the men sobered, wistful for more talk, 
and hungry for higher thoughts in general. 

A number of years afterward, being on a journey, he met a stranger 
in a northern city, who stopped him abruptly on the sidewalk, and 
saluted him, as in the army. He said: 

"Chaplain, don't you know me?" 

Summerbell replied that he did not. 

"Don't you remember making a bargain with a soldier in the war, 
down in , that he should not swear until you took your turn?" 

"Yes," said Summerbell, "I remember perfectly." 

" Well," said the soldier, "lam that man. And I want to know if you 
have taken your turn yet?" 

" No ; I have n't seen anything to swear at yet." 
' Well, I want you to take your turn." 

"Do you mean that you have kept your bargain; that you have not 
sworn since that night ? " 

"I have not sworn since; I have been waiting for you to take your 
turn." 

It then developed that the soldier had been a changed man from that 
hour when he had made the bargain. The quaint agreement had made 
him feel a kind of partnership with the chaplain, and his own sense of 
honor had held him true to his word. 

His physical bravery was equal to his moral courage. One day the 
northern army was in pursuit of the confederates, when the division was 
checked by masked batteries of the enemy. He rode forward until he 
came to the group around the general commanding. He heard the com- 



150 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

niand given for the new recruits, " six months' men," to draw aside from 
the road, and the way was cleared for the veterans, who very soon came 
trotting along, with their eyes strained as though looking for game. 
About opposite where Summerbell sat, one of the veterans broke into a 
dance, a "shuffle," and, "making a face" at a sober-looking youth 
among " the six months' men," exclaimed: 

" Would n't you like to see your mother this morning ? " 

But the veterans kept on at their trot, ran out of the woods, turned to 
the left into line of battle, and without a halt or important break in their 
formation, rushed across the open field swept by grape shot and drove 
the confederates from their positions. At this time the general noticed 
Summerbell sitting on his horse with the rest around him, while the 
bullets were falling among them, and sternly ordered : 

11 Chaplain, this is no place for you; go back to your regiment immed- 
iately." 

Summerbell obeyed. But he came to be respected by the officers for 
his executive and soldierly qualities, as well as for his excellence as 
chaplain. He was detailed for different small services, to act as post- 
master, and in various ways was made useful until his army life was 
practically brought to an end by his being ordered to take north, from a 
certain command, convalescent sick soldiers on furlough. The prevail- 
ing sickness among them was "camp diarrhoea." Summerbell went 
into the hospital and announced that he would start north, at such a 
time, with all the convalescents on furlough who were able to march. 
The announcement caused every man who could rise and stagger to the 
appointed place to appear, so that Summerbell found himself in com- 
mand of sixty-one men, many of whom were really sick and unfit to 
walk. He could not resist their pleadings to go hom*e with him on 
account of the tenderness of his own heart, and started. 

The march the first day was very short. Immediately on taking up 
quarters for the night, he ordered some of the stronger soldiers to secure 
white oak bark. This he boiled, made a strong syrup, and compelled 
the sick men to drink it. Its effect was good, and every man became 
stronger and better, from the effect of the drink and from the cheer for 
their hearts in the hope of their seeing their northern friends. He some- 
times boiled the syrup while the men were asleep. It was only a few 
days until a considerable distance could be covered by the sick men. 
Only one died. 

In a little time the progress north became a happy march ; the men 
had confidence in their leader and were becoming stronger daily. He 
did everything for them that he could. He had on several occasions 
been displeased, while on the march southward, by seeing men detailed 
to guard the property of men who were absent in the Confederate army. 
He determined on a different policy in his own conduct. The men were 
sorely in need of better food. 

On one occasion, he saw a little way ahead considerable poultry in the 
road, passing a good farm. He looked around to his men, and said: 

" Boys, I don't want you to let me see you catch any of those chickens." 



CARE FOR THE SICK 151 

Then ne put spurs to his horse and galloped ahead without looking 
ibehind him. The men observed his position, he heard a rousing cheer, 
and presently heard much squalling of chickens. He did not turn 
around. That night the men brought him chicken for his supper. 

There was constant watchcare over them. Nothing was left undone 
which would help them to health. They came to reverence him with 
the devotion seldom given to an old commander. 

But he was destined to have serious trouble. For very cold weather 
came on while he was still marching in the south ; the men were feeble 
to resist the cold, and they were marching to a colder latitude. On 
reaching a certain camp in Kentucky, the commandant refused to 
admit the sick men, saying that the quarters were full and he would not 
turn his own men out into the cold. It was night. Summerbell argued 
<md plead to no effect. Then he threatened that if quarters were not 
provided, he would take them by. force. The commandant asked his 
rank. Summerbell replied, "Cavalry captain." (This was the case 
then.) The commandant, being only an infantry captain, surrendered. 
The men were provided for. 

The next morning a train was going north, but no place could be found 
for a part of Sumnierbell's men except in the express car, to which the 
messenger refused to admit them. Summerbell ordered a sergeant to 
take a squad of men and take the car. As the soldiers approached the 
door on one side with weapons directed to the messenger, he abandoned 
the car by the other side. The men were going north. By this time 
they idolized their temporary commander. 

On reaching the suburbs of Covington, the train was stopped, and 
Summerbell received, as he supposed, directions to the barracks where 
he could get his men in shelter from the fierce cold of the night. How- 
ever, they lost their way, and soon found themselves practically in the 
country. They lost their sense of direction; the whiteness of the snow 
prevented them from seeing to advantage; the men began to sink down, 
giving up their efforts to walk more. The chaplain was probably the 
strongest man, naturally, among them. He helped man after man to 
his feet, lifting them one after another, appointing stronger men to care 
for the feeble, and to hinder them from falling, and keeping them in 
motion. In these efforts in lifting the men, he repeatedly strained him- 
self, being compelled to use brute force to lift the limp weight of those 
who refused to make any more struggle. At last he found himself near 
a large, fine-looking house. He got his men at the front door, and rung 
the door-bell. A window in the second story was thrown up, and a 
voice called : 

" What do you want? Who is there ? " 

Summerbell replied that he had sixty sick soldiers, and wanted him 
to come down and open the door and let them in; they were freezing to 
death. 

The voice replied, " Why don't you go to the barracks, you ? " 

Summerbell said, "If you don't come down and open the door, we 
will break it in." 



152 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

" Break it in and be ! \ } 

Summerbell ordered a corporal to break the door down. A group of 
soldiers was rushing at the door, when the voice called out : 

" Hold on, I '11 open the door." 

The men were admitted. Fires were made all over the house. Sum- 
merbell kept the family under guard that no one might leave the prem- 
ises. The most feeble men were put in beds and tenderly cared for. 
Provisions were cooked, and all the soldiers were made as comfortable as 
possible, but by the time this was done Summerbell began to recall his 
arbitrary acts of a few days. He began to look for his orders, and, to 
his dismay, found that in his work in the snow or elsewhere he had lost 
them. He could only account for this by the theory that they must have 
fallen from his pocket when stooping over the fallen men. His com- 
mission was gone also. His diary of his observations in the army was 
gone too, though a part of this was afterward recovered and sent to him, 
from which we have quoted. He considered his condition. He had a 
number of convalescents under his command, but was still in the State 
of Kentucky, while his destination, where he was to deliver the men, 
was Indianapolis ; he had no money ; he had committed a number of 
acts that would probably lead to investigation. He saw that he was in 
a serious predicament, and that it would be difficult to persuade strangers 
that he had been driven by the necessities of his men to his arbitrary 
acts. He resolved on a plan of operations. 

First, he won the favor of the householder whose property he was 
occupying by sitting down with him and entering into amusing and 
brilliant conversation. Story after story, joke after joke, appeased the 
angry man ; and then with soberness and skill he won his favor and 
admiration by describing the necessity of doing as he had done and the 
importance of getting his men quickly away from the house and to the 
north. He captured the man completely. He gained from him infor- 
mation as to his whereabouts, the way of quickly reaching the head- 
quarters of the general commanding the department in Cincinnati, and 
assurances of assistance. 

Before daylight, having had no sleep at all, he was on his way to the 
headquarters in Cincinnati with certain papers ready for the general to 
sign. It was still very early when he appeared at the door. A colored 
man who opened informed him that the general was not up yet and 
could not be seen. 

"But I must see him immediately on important business," said Sum- 
merbell. 

"The general is asleep, sah, and must not be distu'bed." 

"I must see him immediately— immediately, on important busi- 
ness." 

"You cannot see- the general, sah; positively you cannot see him." 

Summerbell spoke very loudly now, repeating, "I must see him, im- 
mediately, on important business." 

The colored man said, " Well, I will see if the general is awake • but 
he left o'ders not to be distu'bed." 



CLOSE OF ARMY LIFE 153 

He was about to close the door, but Summerbell pushed his way 
inside, to the disgust of the colored man, and followed him upstairs 
closely. On reaching the top, the general, with a soldier's instinct 
aroused, was sitting up in bed calling : 

" What is that row about down there at the door ? " 

Summerbell pushed past the colored man into the room, stated that 
he had a number of sick men bound for the north, that he wished to 
take to Indianapolis that morning, and wanted rations and transporta- 
tion, etc., for them quickly; and presented orders for the general to 
sign, with pen and ink ready. The general glanced through the papers, 
saw that they were what they were represented to be, signed his name, 
aud lay down, while Summerbell passed quickly out of the room. He 
returned to his men and soon had them on the way. When he reached 
Indianapolis he was among friends, and could get the ear of the 
governor, with whom he was personally acquainted, and secured a du- 
plicate commission, and a furlough for himself to see his family. 

But this was practically the end of his army life, for his duties at the 
college became peremptory. 

The large, clasp Bible, which the soldiers gave him on being mustered 
out, has the following inscribed on the cover: 

The 115th Regiment Indiana Volunteers 

Presents this Book 

to 

N. SUMMERBELL, 

OUR BELOVED CHAPLAIN : 

Our companion in danger, 
Our deliverer in suffering, 
Our guide to the Savior. 

The following passage is copied from the "Military History of Ohio," 
( H. H. Hardesty, Publisher, New York, Toledo, and Chicago, 1886 ) : 

Summerbell, Rev. Nicholas, D.D., was president of Union Christian 
College at outbreak of war; received pass in General Grant's own hand 
to visit army in Missouri prior to Belmont battle; preached to General 
Logan's regiment while it was at Cairo, Illinois. Commission issued by 
Governor O. P. Morton, of Indiana, bearing date August 26, 1863. Chap- 
lain 115th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Was able, faithful, and suc- 
cessful in his work; preaching, praying with the wounded, ministering 
to the sick, and comforting the dying; not only laboring with his regi- 
ment, but in all parts of the army to which he had access. Labors prin- 
cipally under General Burnside in Tennessee. Organized a church on 
Bible union principles. In 1864, in command of men on detached duty 
till M. O. May 17, 1864. At close of war was presented by his men with 
Bible inscribed [ Here follows the foregoing inscription ]. Chaplain Sum- 
merbell is now ( 1886 ) pastor of the Christian Church on High Street, 
Springfield, Ohio; member Burkholder Post G. A. R., Yellow Springs, 
Greene Co., Ohio. Mustered into Burkholder Post, May 18, 1885. 

The source of his influence over the young people may be in part 
understood by reading the following address to a teachers' convention, 



154 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

which manifests that regard for the highest type of conduct everywhere, 
that made him so influential in developing others and leading them to 
the highest life; it was delivered in 1864: 

TO TEACHERS. 

The conflict is between light and darkness. The student desires 
eternal day ! But, alas ! as the earth finds rest in its own shadow, so 
ignorance rests in its own darkness. But battle on. As when of old 
the heroes of Israel surrounded the enemy with their pitchers and 
lamps, and suddenly breaking their pitchers, let shine the light, so 
break you up the cells of darkness ; take advantage of experience and 
observation ; hold councils of war, pending the next assault upon the 
empire of ignorance ; consider the advance already made ; consider 
the teacher's duty and the child's capacity ; consider how the Joshuas, 
with the lamp of science, command the suns and moons of wealth and 
power. 

But few in the present day realize the hard battle which has been 
fought against the empire of ignorance; how a few choice spirits, 
like Leonidas of old, have for years defended our intellectual Ther- 
mopylae against the inroads of barbarian hordes. But the battle has 
been fought and the post defended. And you are now invading the 
empire of darkness and carrying the war into the enemy's country 
by free schools, academies, and colleges. And victory must still be 

yours. 

" Truth crushed to earth will rise again, — 
The eternal years of God are hers ; 
But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, 
And dies amid his worshipers." 

Is nothing infinitely less than the smallest particle? and universal 
silence impotent against the faintest whisper? So is ignorance less 
than intelligence; no negative can overcome an affirmative; the 
feeblest taper is more powerful than the most intense darkness, and 
the darkness, however deep or broad, has no power to subdue it. So 
is learning omnipotent against ignorance. 

To understand something of the advances already made, we will 
look— not so far back as Adam the first, nor yet to those later 
Adams, who are as truly primeval as he, and who, though all else 
may be borrowed, have at least this original, that is, "original sin"; 
— nor yet to the time when Charlemagne ordered the reverend priests 
of his day to cover their ignorance by reciting such sermons as they 
might be able to commit to memory, without reference to the author ; 
nor later, when the name, ir-reverend name cleric, the father of 
clergymen, was given to them because they were able to write. Yes, 
call them the " dark ages " when ministers of the gospel could read 
and write, and some of them "cypher." 

In looking over the annals of education and learning, consider- 



AN ADDRESS TO TEACHERS 155 

ing the numbers of those who have been taught at home and finding 
that in almost every instance the mother was this home teacher, I 
am compelled, even by a digression, to urge the more thorough edu- 
cation of our daughters. 

During the dark days of our country's early history, these facts 
demanded attention : 

1. That the mothers in New England homes could generally read 
and write. 

2. That these mothers faithfully taught their children; hence 
those taught at home could read and write, and 

3. That these attainments were all that were desired in the com- 
mon schools. 

By which we learn that mothers, no doubt, then as now, were the 
principal supporters of education. 

These facts should cause us to turn our attention more firmly to 
the education of our daughters, that, wherever their lot may be cast, 
in country old or new, in riches or poverty, in war or peace, though 
wealth may fail, and schools may fail, they may not only have the 
comfort of education and the profit of education and the improvement 
of education . . . but that they may also possess the means of pre- 
serving education and imparting it to future generations. 

Ladies, forget not that education levels all distinctions of wealth, 
nobility, or caste; puts the means of honorable support in every 
woman's power, lifting her from dependence. And then resolve to 
attain a good education yourself, or, if the day for that be past, assist 
your daughters in obtaining it. 

'Tis education will their names adorn; 

'Mid ills of life prepare them for the storm; 

Open the door to luxury and ease; 

Make them both skilled to profit and to please. 

Seek then this open avenue to fame, 

And thus teach others to respect your name. 

You may think it is better to be foolish and gay, 

With your head full of folly and your feet full of play, 

And prefer in the dance to go whirling away ; 

But listen to conscience, and think, when you pray, 

If a more useful life would not, by and by, 

Give pleasure far greater, when called on to die. 

We can do little without the countenance of the ladies ; we humbly 
crave it. 

But we must not forget the olden times. 

Schoolhouses in those days, and in fact all things connected with 
common schools, were conducted on the strictest principles of econ- 
omy. A dilapidated or abandoned dwelling or a snug corner in a 
farmer's kitchen served as a college. In larger towns, however, 
things were conducted on a more magnificent scale. 



156 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

In the Annals of Education, published in 1833, we have a graphic 
description of a centenary schoolhouse, which ( probably to make all 
men see, or "Be it known to all men," in what repute education was 
held in New England ) stood in the center of a busy street in one of 
the most populous towns on the Connecticut River. This house, 
over one hundred years old, united the seventeenth with the nine- 
teenth century; spanning the whole eighteenth, being standing yet 
in 1833. 

In center of the street it stood, — 

Whatever of it there was left ; 

Much had been used for kindling wood, 

By ax and hatchet' cleft. 

No shade trees near— no yard— no green ; 

Though in the distance all were seen : 

The carts and coaches passed all day 

By either side, the narrow way, 

Making loud music, without pay, 

Routing the children in their way, 

Causing the sand and dust to fly, 

Or the mud— tossing " to- ward " the sky. 

The house was 20 by 16, without a hall; 

One room for children, hat and shawl: 

The clothes made carpets, mops, and all. 

The wood-house was the largest room; 

'T was k 'all out doors," 'mid sun or storm, 

Where wood prepared by ice and snow 

Burnt longer — admirably slow. 

An hundred children gathered there, 

Were tightly packed : to get them in 

The fat ones occupying seats next those more thin. 

The room was aired by many a chink. 

Time had so cracked the walls there was no fear 

From lack of ventilation ; for on high 

Time had made opening toward the clear blue sky. 

But this house, long the pride of all the town, was " going the way 
•of all the earth." Some mentioned this to one of the wealthy old 
men, who gave this reply as a "finality " : "There 's where I went 
when I was a boy. What did me then, must do them now." 

As well might the clothing in which he was drest 
♦ When a boy in his aprons, in age suit him best. 

Men grow. So do times. And houses grow old. 
But "learning is better than silver or gold." 
Enriches us nothing, or honors above 
The beautiful schoolhouse in village or grove. 
'T is said of the beautiful temple where Jupiter sate, 
The top was so near to his reverend pate, 



AN ADDRESS TO TEACHERS 157 

Should he change his position, or rise from his chair, 
Both rafters and roof would be tossed in the air. 
And this is the reason the pagans would give 
Why their god sat so still, and so quiet did live. 
And when I see schoolhouses, narrow and low, 
In which, when he enters, the teacher must bow, 
It reminds me Jupiter squat like a toad, 
And I think the poor children are on the same road: 
And Task if the parents, in moments of wrath, 
Have to Jupiter christened and given our youth, 
To be reared in a schoolhouse so narrow and low, 
Lest the boys should be upright and intellects grow ; 
Where, smothered or freezing, behind or ahead, 
The lungs are destroyed, and consumptions are bred ; 
Where cart-loads of children, and teacher, and all, 
In a mean little bushel of schoolhouse must crawl. 

In those good old days the great difficulty was not in obtaining a 
teacher — any farmer would do for a teacher — nor yet in governing the 
school: that was expected to be a running fight between teacher and 
scholars. The difficulty was to find a teacher sufficiently active; one 
who could pick up the feet of his mental progress sufficiently quick to 
keep the young disciples off his learned heels. For this purpose, to 
give him a good start, each quarter saw all the scholars put back to 
review, to commence each book anew, the advanced and young be- 
ginners all in one class, the object being to go slow, that the teacher 
might keep far enough ahead, with the aid of "the book," to hear 
their recitations. It is said that one active teacher in this way could 
manage three score of children, and could all at once 

Hear a class 

And mend a pen, 

And whip a scholar 

Now*and then. 

Such terror was there in his iron look 

That every child was forced to love his book. 

Such terror was there in his birchen rod, 

All shook with fear if he but gave a nod. 

Such terror was there in his long ferrule, j 

All. wondered why he had no better school. 

Their fear and terror made them shun his look, 

And yet to tease him, such pains they took, 

His face could not be turned, but some scapegrace 

Pinned papers to his back, or drew his face, 

Mimicked his pace, or aped his lofty air; 

Or, just when he would sit, removed his chair. 

Then all would laugh to see him tumbling there. 

Then in a moment all was hushed and still, 



158 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Save the low huni of study; and his skill 

Was tried to know if he 'd been treated ill. 

Or if but dreaming — 

So busy each one looked, 

So honest seeming. 

He then resolved it was an imposition, 

And straightway proceeded to make inquisition ; 

To give it up would be a base surrender, 

And so he 7 d ferret out the young offender. 

Then all at once their clamorous tongues resounded, 

Rendering the worst confusion worse confounded ; 

One cried, "Master, Jim Black 's pinchin' me." 

Another, "Bob Wright 's laughing, master, see! " 

4 ' May T go out ? " " Make Tom Reed let me be ! » ' 

" Master, Sal Drake is making mouths at me ! " 

When in his wrath he draws his birchen gad, 

Declaring doom on every elfish lad ; 

Since none will tell what rascal broke the rule, 

He is determined he will "whale the school." 

Such were the teachers, such the schools they taught. A few can 
still be had of the same sort. Such teachers were not hired for 
qualifications, but to save $5.00 per month; sold like the county 
poor, to the lowest bidder, they work in the district which pays the 
lowest wages. 

Such teacher is not the friend, but the master of the school. The 
children are his prisonars ; the house a jail, and he the jailer. Some- 
times he is a king ; his old chair a throne, and his sceptre a splintered 
hickory. Sometimes he is a constable, and brings the rebel spirits to 
the bar of justice. But whether jailer, king, or constable, he is the 
standing executioner, every desk a whipping post, and every child a 
victim. With ox-goads he would drive the children up the hill of 
science, as herds of buffalo are by the Indians driven. 

In correcting children, the teacher should study their varying tem- 
peraments and dispositions. If he does not do this, he will often 
defeat the very object he has in view. Let the teacher ask which 
organs he desires to strengthen, which to check. If you would en- 
courage the animal powers, treat the child as you would a brute; if 
its destructiveness, beat it often ; if its revenge and hate, offend its 
spirit. 

But if you would cultivate its affection, then affection responds and 
grows nourished by your kindness as naturally as the muscles of the 
smith's arm by exercise. If you would have the child conscientious, 
appeal to its conscience ; if just, appeal to justice, to its own sense of 
right. If you appeal to emulation, stir up its pride, and it will rear 
itself as the warmed viper ; if to its anger, give it lessons and you 
will cultivate this fiery passion. 



AN ADDRESS TO TEACHERS 159 

Better for all to cultivate its better nature ; it has a soul, an indi- 
vidual self, a will you should not try to destroy. I l ' will, " I ' ' won't, " 
are potent words ; they show the workings of a conscious spirit. You 
may place in the wall a stone or brick and it will rest there ; but a 
child flies up and cries, ' 1 1 won't ; " it has a will. God gave it that will ; 
destroy it not. It is the prerogative of the intellectual soul ; it is the 
image of God. Subdue it, and you sponge out the image of its Maker. 
Then you may stamp your own poor image there in place of God's ! 
Miserable exchange ! Yet made wherever man bows down to man ! 

Much may be learned by considering that education is commenced 
by the mother. Her eye is the child's first reading book ; her voice 
its first tutor. Long before it can pronounce her name, it has read 
her spirit, and learned it too, never to be forgotten ; for what is learned 
in childhood becomes so much our very self as seldom to be forgotten. 
It has been said that the mother and the schoolmaster are responsible 
for all our early impressions, but the child has other tutors beside 
these. 

A father's voice trains its young ear to sound, and every word he 
speaks forms its molding mind. 

Its infant nourishment (opiates and cordials) oft train its taste, 
depraving for future dissipation. 

The very temperature of the room to which its infant life becomes 
habituated, educates it to breast the storms of life, or for a hospital. 

Its clothing educates its body to be hardy or sickly. . 

Its food prepares its appetite, or dyspepsia. 

Its schoolmates educate it for goodness or depravity. 

Society educates it, too often for- evil. 

And to counteract these many bad lessons should be the teacher's 
care. And though he fail, the church will not despair; the Bible, 
conscience, and the Spirit will exhaust their power to educate him 
still. As Alps on Alps arise, so are his opportunities, the world itself 
a college, with its departments, preparatory, academic, public school* 
and primary, all men professors and all men students. 

Even nature's laws would* guide us right, or punish us by pain, and 
finally by death reject us from her school, helpless, disgraced, if we 
are reprobate. 

God himself, the Author of all light, was the first great Educator. 
The Bible is full of his lessons to Adam, and Noe, and Abram, and 
Moses, and Jesus. "The law," says Paul, "was our schoolmaster, 
to bring us to Christ ; " and Christ is the teacher come from God, to 
teach us truth and right. 

The teachers must have confidence in the intellectual and moral 
nature of the child; realize that it belongs to the genus homo, and 
is not simply a young brute. He must remember that its mind is 
more than its body ; that learning is as natural to the child as gravi- 
tation ; and that it hungers after knowledge as truly as after food. 



160 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

It desires not only to know everything, but the price of it. No dis- 
position is more plainly developed in childhood than this thirst for 
knowledge, this desire for education, the feeling out of its tiny hands 
for one to lead it. Its curiosity to examine everything, its questions 
so often unanswered, its inquisitiveness rebuffed, its forwardness 
reproved, and its prattling tongue so often silenced— all cry, Tell me, 
tell me, teach me, teach me ; which is the simplicity of an inspired 
humanity asking for instruction. 

Thus God himself makes a scholar of the child ; it needs no beating, 
it needs no bruising; these natural desires should be guided and 
encouraged, not driven ! The child should be made to feel that its 
study is a privilege, not a task ; that its lesson is not to be committed 
merely, but that it is something to be learned ; and that it is not the 
sound, but the sense that is to be understood. . . . That hidden 
treasures underlie all nouns; and powers unknown beneath the verbs 
lie hid ; that energy, activity are found in adverbs ; the true relation 
of all things in prepositions ; and character and quality in adjectives ; 
that grammar is the tongue's accomplishment, and soul's expression, 
the mind's dress, and the thought's adorning; that geography con- 
sists in pictures of all places and stories about them, and the people 
and all things concerning them. 

One of the greatest errors in teaching is in the departure from 
nature. Follow nature and you must succeed. The child longs for 
mental food. Its eye examines colors, its ear measures sounds, its 
hands weigh and balance. And every instinct cries out, Tell me, tell 
me, teach me, teach me ! 

Why does the child so quickly 'learn the names of bread, water, 
stone, stick, cat, dog, or cow ? It requires no more effort to learn 
letters or other words than these ; but show them something to learn, 
not barely sound, but sense. 

The good teacher adapts his lessons and suits them to the tempera- 
ment of the child. He is example as well as precept ; neat and cleanly 
in his appearance, open and manly in his bearing, engaging and com- 
municative in conversation, a thorough and indefatigable student. 
He regards the scholars, not as herds of wild beasts to be subdued or 
slaves to be governed, but as miniature Newtons, Franklins, Jeffer- 
sons, and Washingtons. He prepares his schoolroom for them as 
friends, and meets them with a smile. The rules are stated, the 
object set forth, the necessity of order and diligence explained, the 
benefit of knowledge, and the amount possible to be accomplished. 
He arouses their self-respect, kindles their ambition, awakens eager 
desire and wins the heart. The pupils see in him an eye to encour- 
age, and a heart to cheer, and they have a will to learn. 

Such a teacher is like a superior being, to the child ; like the potter 
he molds the clay into vessels of honor or dishonor. Like an archi- 
tect he rears his temple of mind, more glorious than that of King 



AN ADDRESS TO TEACHERS 161 

Solomon ; stores it with the bread of science ; hangs it with the cur- 
tains of thought ; adorns it with towers of noble ambition ; polishes it 
with the lustre of classic knowledge ; illuminates it with the light of 
celestial truth ; and warms it with the fires of divine love. Like a 
mariner, he brings from remote shores precious gems of thought, and 
pearls of knowledge from every ocean. As an antiquarian, he directs 
his way to the remotest ages and exhibits to the developing mind 
truths stored in languages long since silent, and panoramas of nations 
long passed away. Like a skillful mechanic, he works the precious 
material of mind and spirit, more choice than gold or precious stones, 
and brings from the raw material of uncultivated thought the author, 
artist, reformer and philosopher. Like a gardener, he casts the cul- 
tivated seed of truth, gathered from sages, in the fresh young hearts 
around him. He sows, but another reaps; he rears a temple and 
adorns' a palace, for another to occupy. But he rejoices in their pros- 
perity, and re-lives in their lives. 
Would you be such a teacher ? 

First govern well yourself, and bear in mind, 
You must be and appear the children's friend. 
Meet them with cheerful countenance the while; 
So will they love you, so will seek your smile. 
Reprove but seldom, lest you irritate. 
Question, explain, full clear the reason state. 
Talk much of good, and let them plainly see 
You are their friend, and ever mean to be. 
Reserve severe reproof for causes rare. 
Be prompt to note, but on confession spare; 
And if reforming, mark not every failure; 
Praise the purposed and well-meant endeavor. 
If aught is secret, do not that expose, 
But warn in private what no other knows. 
Confide much in their word, and praise their good; 
And lead them to condemn the faults you would. 

Take pains with the child ! It has boundless capacities for good or 
evil, and will either develop an angel or demon. You may cultivate 
either ! As the air surrounds the earth, so an infinite moral atmos- 
phere surrounds the soul, through which it may be drawn or driven 
downward to shame and death or upward to heaven. The historian 
fails not to record the doubtful legend of Alexander's heroism in con- 
quering and saving the noble horse Bucephalus. How much nobler 
the teacher's heroism who successfully controls a human spirit and 
saves a soul from wreck ! As Alexander turned to the sun the head 
of his horse, so toward heaven turn the child, out of its shadow. It 
requires a little pains and a little patience, but the child is worth the 
labor. 

11 



162 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Many a teacher will spend an hour 

At once to correct mistakes in grammar, 

But gives it up as out of his power 

To spare time to correct the maimer; 

Will correct a boy, and pronounce him done, 

In half the time he 'd correct a "sum," 

And requires more time, as a general rule, 

To take a quid from his box than to " box " the whole school r 

Mending the manners of miniature men 

In half the time he Is mending a pen ; 

The average time about two minutes each ; 

The pen with a knife, the boy with a beach : 

And gives to the blackboard twice the pains 

He takes to Improve the urchins' brains; 

And still complains of the scholar's heart, 

Though he gives the blackboard so much the start. 

It is said that an occulist, being complimented on his skill, replied,. 
"Sir, I spoiled a whole hatful of eyes before I attained to it.' 1 So 
have whole schoolhouses full of children been tl spoiled." But this 
could be borne were the spoiling operations over; but ,alas! not 
a season passes without some rejected boy's being, driven from 
school. 

Teachers should not depend on brute force, neither be soon discour- 
aged ; powerful influences are to be exhausted before you need be dis- 
couraged. In controlling a boy, use : 

Your own personal influence. 

Parental influence, brought to bear by reporting to parents. 

Self -discipline. 

Honor to the school. 

His own conscience. 

His love of knowledge. 

Bible influence. 

His obligation to God. 

Do not forget that your position gives you great power over the 
mind of the young ; they look to you as beau ideals of perfection. 

I well remember my old teacher ! 

The imperial pedagogue! How like a king he walked! 
Majestically slow, with measured pace. 
Potential teacher! How like a king he talked ! 
The imperial brow became the princely face. 

No other man to me seemed half so great : 
The man who knew all nouns, all rules ; 
Who could the knowledge of all things relate : 
The prince of teachers and the pride of schools ! 



AN ADDRESS TO TEACHERS 163 

How light we felt, if he but smiled on us ! 
How proud we felt, to have so fine a teacher! 
We wondered how one head could hold so much, 
And wondered more why he was not a preacher. 

Great prodigy of learning, master of Murray ! 

Who could say, We love, you love, they love, and not look 

Into the grammar; and who geography, 

Aud algebra, and all things knew—" all off the book. 11 

In all the trials of the teacher he has this consolation, that his labors 
result in a three-fold good : ( 1 ) the income, which, however trifling, 
is nevertheless essential ; ( 2 ) the improvement, which is both positive 
and profitable in very many ways ; ( 3 ) the result of his labors on the 
child and the community ; strengthening and giving it hands to work 
with ; adorning the mind and imparting food to nourish it ; polishing 
the manners and cultivating the heart. 

If then he sometimes finds his labors unappreciated, let him not 
faint. Lycurgus lost an eye for Sparta ; Williams, a home for liberty ; 
and Christ gave his life for the world. Persevere, and you will con- 
quer. 

Some young teachers, just for practice, would teach a while before 
they begin, as the minister who talked a little before he began to 
speak, or the lad who took a little nap before he went to sleep. Let 
them go on; they will teach awhile before they begin. 

Sometimes a director will visit the school to instruct you how to 
teach, with pipe in mouth or expectorating tobacco juice, a little lake. 
Do not so defile your mouths or such example set. But go on ; you 
will get over that — that lake, I mean ! 

Sometimes, though, you must teach in a house sans glass to window, 
fastening to door, with ventilated roof and puncheon floor, a high rail 
fence is to be scrambled o'er to reach it : only persevere, and you 11 
get over that — I mean the fence. 

Sometimes a whole neighborhood will rise in arms against you; 
let them alone, and they 11 get over that. People are learning. 

The world has advanced by majestic strides since the day when 
Egypt led the van of civilization, — worshiping crocodiles, cats, and 
cattle, and sacrificing human victims. — or the famed laws of Lycur- 
gus educated children to steal their food, and murdered those of a 
delicate complexion lest they would not make hardy soldiers, whip- 
ping others to death to harden them — 

Where the famed fields of classic story 

Are still revered for ancient glory; 

But none know which to praise the most, 

The bloody wars, or bloody codes: 

As Draco's laws, most sanguinary, 

Or Solon's, which were quite contrary. 



164 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

While some yet deem Lycurgus' best, 
Including laws on food and dress, 
But such I deem, to say the truth, 
The rustic days of learning's youth. 

A proper education is designed to counteract the evil accumulations 
of the past and gain treasures of good for the future, It is not only 
accumulation, but purgation. There is often as much to leave off as 
to gain, morally, mentally, socially, and physically. Education is to 
remold and to rebuild the man for usefulness and happiness. In 
life's college, each man is a professor, each professor a student, and 
each student, in his turn, a teacher, — constantly acquiring, assimi- 
lating, and reproducing ; so that true education is not only to plant, 
but to pluck up that which is planted ; to purge the thoughts and 
purify the heart, to correct bad habits, and plant good hopes, reform 
the position as well as disposition. 

True education is the destruction of evil and instruction in good ; 
draining and training, detecting and directing, not simply in let- 
ters, and syntax, and science, but in principles, habits, morals, and 
manners. Many are instructed who are not truly educated. Thus 
was Byron ; hence, he knew the right, but pursued the wrong. 

Instruction without true education degrades learning and renders 
knowledge dangerous. Can knowledge exalt him who craves the 
intoxicating cup ? Will wisdom be admired, compounded with to- 
bacco smoke ? or the Christian graces, expectorated with tobacco 
juice? Will a knowledge of letters adorn the character of him 
whose ways are rude and manners offensive ? No. A true educa- 
tion has to do with the whole man — not only the letters, but the 
labors of life : how to spell and to spade ; how to read and to run ; 
how to sing and to sit ; how to believe and how to behave. 

Books bring this knowledge near, as the telescope does the stars — 
apparently ; but to many, when the book is laid aside, the knowledge 
is as truly gone as the star with the telescope. So should we not 
study, so not teach. 

We study the classics, not simply because they are books in Latin 
or in Greek, but as the best "authors to imbue the mind with noble 
sentiments and to inflame the thought with the desire of learning. 
Were the facts all, the works might be translated, their arguments 
reduced to syllogisms and facts to chronological order, and all be 
studied in a few short weeks; but words themselves are things — 
massy, powerful. 

It has been observed that he who caused two spires of grass to 
grow where one grew before deserves the thanks of men. How much 
more he who plants new thought in the desert intellect ! A thought 
is more than grass ; a ton of grass might winter an ox, but a thought 
has saved a nation. 



ADDRESS TO TEACHERS 165 

The classics are studied as embodying great and generous thoughts. 
Yet we must ever confess that the ancients gave comparatively little 
thought to the intellectual and moral culture; physical training 
always predominates. This is seen in the cruel sacrifice of delicate 
children. It is seen in the following song, preserved by Plutarch : 

"Chorus of Old Men. 
We have been young, though now grown old; 
Hardy in field, in battle bold. 

Chorus of Young Men. 

We are so now, let who dares try; 

We '11 conquer, or in combat die. 

Chorus of Children. 

Whatever ye can do or tell, 

We one day will you both excel." 

We also see this in the very origin of our word academy, from 
Academus, who established a school of gymnastic exercises in the 
suburbs" of Athens. The garden, groves, and pleasant walks, were 
afterward donated to the public, and became the resort of Socrates, 
who frequented them to converse with his disciples. Plato, his 
pupil, ''first gave celebrity to the academy as a seat of philosophy 
by establishing here the school over which he presided for near a half 
century." (Penny Cyclop., 1, 61.) 

In short, the truths of the books should become part and parcel of 
our being. These bring distant lands near, and make present dis- 
tant shores. By these we visit remote ages, and gather knowledge 
of all lands. In these we are instructed by all teachers, introduced 
into all philosophies, and educated in all sciences. But it is only 
when the student steps beyond the author that he truly begins to 
learn. Then he studies once again the book which Homer and 
Euclid studied, goes up into the mount with Moses, steps from the 
ship with Peter, or leaves his country with Abram. led by the hand 
of God. Such are the true men, true teachers in life's colleges. 
This world is their vast laboratory, and death will bring them to 
heaven's university, where Christ himself will teach them forever. 

May God prosper you as teachers: yours is a noble work. The 
warrior overruns countries and despoils cities ; your work is to anni- 
hilate ignorance. Warriors butcher and enslave nations ; you dispel 
darkness and teach men freedom. Warriors open the floodgates of 
vice and misery; your work is to construct bridges over the dark 
waters of superstition and vice, arch the sinks of ignorance and sin, 
pierce the heavens with spires of intellectual greatness, and plant 
the trees of a celestial civilization in the vineyard of humanity. 

Then go forth to your work, teachers, feeling the importance of 



166 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

your mission. Let no hand falter, no heart faint. Your work will 
add new luster to the eye of youth, and crown old age with glory ; 
it will animate great forms of men with intellectual spirits; it will 
secure from imposition and relieve from shame, exalt the lowly and 
enrich the poor. Go forth and educate ; educate the heart and mind. 
The agriculturist educates wild nature's fields, and enjoys the rich 
returns of harvest; yours is the nobler work — to cultivate the fields 
of a living humanity. The horticulturist educates the fruit-tree till 
it produces the richest flavor and the fairest fruit; it. is yours to 
cultivate in the human heart fruit which will endure to eternal life. 
The florist educates the wild flower till it becomes a double rose ; and 
shall we neglect the wild flowers of the human soul, which will 
bloom, eternal, in the Garden of God ? The sculptor educates the 
lifeless marble till it speaks to every sentiment of the soul ; you are 
the sculptors of a living soul, to cause Irving lips to speak, and eyes 
to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to understand. Then go forth, 
teachers, to mold the human souls of the rising generation, and may 
heaven bless your labors. 

The audacity of N. Surnmerbell at times was startling. On one occa- 
sion he was on a railroad train which was boarded at a certain station 
by a large number of respectable-looking people, many of whom were 
evidently ministers. A few minutes after the train moved on, he went 
toward the center of the car, where a number were standing in the aisle 
on account of the lack of seats, and accosted them with the question : 

u Ministers, I presume ? " 

"Yes; most of us." 

"Are you Universalist or Methodist ministers? I cannot tell Univer- 
salist ministers from Methodist ministers. I always know it is one or 
the other, but I cannot tell which." 

" We are Universalist ministers." 

" Been holding a meeting near here ? " 

"Yes; we have been holding an association." 

"Thaukyou." 

Summerbell started back to his seat, when one of the ministers ex- 
claimed : 

" Hold on ; wait a minute. You said you knew we were Universalist 
or Methodist ministers, but you couldn't say which. How did you know 
we were one or the other? " 

"Oh, that 's easy enough. Anybody could tell that." 

"But we want to know." 

"I don't like to tell." 

" Oh, but you must tell ! We want to know." 

"It is by your mouths." 

"By our mouths!" 

"Yes; the Methodists preach hell so much, and the Universalists 
preach against hell so much, that your mouths get that shape ; as if you 
were just going to say hcll. v 



BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 167 

The Universalists roared with amusement at his manner, and the fun 
and argument were constant until he left the train. 

On June 19, 1864, he delivered the first baccalaureate address of Union 
Christian College, as follows, when his son, J. J. Summerbell, graduated : 

RELIGION THE PROMOTER OF VIRTUE, SCIENCE, AND HUMANITY. 

The glory of God and the good of men are more important than 
abstract arts and sciences. Man is more than geology, astronomy, 
or botany ; more than rocks, or trees, or stars, or suns. The glory of 
God is promoted by abiding by his laws, and the good of man by 
cultivating his powers, educating his virtues, and relieving his mis- 
fortunes. This day I present you revelation, as the great means of 
both at once — glorifying God and exalting man. 

The idolatrous nations of classic ages had speculation without 
truth, science without virtue, power without mercy, statuary with- 
out modesty, philosophy without purity, literature without honesty, 
bravery without justice, worship without God, and religion without 
humanity. 

Revelation lifts the world from idolatry to the one true God, and 
huilds up science, refinement, and civilization among men. It estab- 
lishes justice, cultivates mercy, promotes learning, and establishes 
benevolence. To prove this is the work of the hour. 

It is the great rule and guide to civilization, the moral lever by 
which the world is being constantly moved. Simpson says: u For 
the learning that is now in the world, we are indebted to the Bible. 
To it likewise we are indebted for all the morality and religion which 
prevails among men." (p. 125.) 

Everett, America's most accomplished orator and statesman says : 
"If it were possible to annihilate the Bible, and with it all its influ- 
ences, we should destroy with it the whole spiritual system of the 
moral world— all our great moral ideas, refinement of manners, con- 
stitutional government, equitable administration and security of 
property, our schools, hospitals and benevolent associations, the 
press, the fine arts, the equality of the sexes and the blessings of the 
fireside — in a word, all that distinguishes Europe and America from 
Turkey and Hindostan." (Tullidge, p. 61.) 

To Revelation we are indebted for a true knowledge of creation, for 
the history of our race, for the very civilization, learning and oppor- 
tunity enjoyed by those who unwisely speak against it. The Bible 
informs us that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." It gives us a rational history of our race. It imparts the 
only true views of God, and the only correct guide in religion. Na- 
tions, believing it, have always been far above others in civilization ; 
that is, the Hebrews were very far in advance of the Canaanites, 
Greeks, or Romans; and Germany, Italy, France, England, and 
America now are far in advance of China, Hindostan, Africn, or 



168 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Japan. Neither is this owing to anything in the natural aptitude of 
Europeans to civilization. The Asiatic, Hindoo, or Chinese is better 
adapted to a high degree of civilization than the European. 

When Christianity laid hold of the Greek, the Roman, the Celt, 
the Gaul, Pict, Scot, and Anglo-Saxon, it found not the conserva- 
tive, conscientious Asiatic, loving quiet, and separating himself from 
contact with the warring world by Chinese walls, or bowing his 
million neck to the British Lion. Such were not the Europeans. 
They were bold, energetic, aggressive, warlike, cruel, unscrupulous 
and desperately wicked. After the genial effects of heaven's own 
religion for many centuries, the old disposition is constantly seen 
cropping out in characteristic sins — not however because of any 
defect in Christianity, but because these nations are yet, many of 
them, heathen in practice, and infidel in faith. Hence the struggle 
between light and darkness, the church and the world, learning and 
ignorance, religion and sin. Therefore we find that while these 
nations are so far in advance of the half -civilized world in every 
principle of moral and intellectual greatness, yet the quiet conser- 
vatism of the Hindoo and Chinese often causes us to blush over the 
domineering spirit of European nations. There is no race or class be- 
fore which the world of letters bows as reverently as it does before 
the sages of classic Greece and imperial Rome. Their philosophers, 
half divine, call forth constant eulogies. Pythagoras, Socrates, 
Diogenes, Plato, Aristotle, Solon, and the divine Cato — mark well 
their philosophy and their morals, and candidly ask yourself what 
you would think of the Bible if such principles were taught there. 
And upon the infidel supposition that the Bible is not a revelation, 
explain how the Bible comes to be at once free from all errors, and 
to contain infallible laws ! How comes it to agree with all science ; to 
commit no errors in philosophy, etc? Whence this perfection? Why 
does it not fall into errors of calculation with Rollin ; of geography 
with Tacitus? 

In the Scriptures written in the days of Job, four hundred years 
before Moses, Job says of God: "He stretchcth the North over 
an empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing," while the 
Greeks and the Romans taught that the heavens were a solid vault 
over the earth. A sphere studded with stars, said Aristotle. Plato 
thought the world an intelligent being. Xenophon thought that God 
and the world were the same thing. Pythagoras thought brutes 
men in that form ; and recognized the souls of his friends in dogs and 
birds. Hindoos supposed the earth supported by huge elephants 
standing on a tortoise — the shaking of the elephants produced earth- 
quakes. Mohammed thought the mountains were the fastenings of 
the earth. Pliny thought that fishes with horse heads were common 
in the Arabian Sea, and that they grazed in fields at night, and 
testifies that he saw a Centaur embalmed in honey. Tacitus fixed 



PAGANISM IMPURE 169 

the period of 1161 years instead of 500, as the date when the fabled 
Phcenix periodically appears, or comes into existence. Pliny 
thought thunderbolts proceeded from three superior stars, especially 
from the central one, called Jupiter. 

All nations believed in pigmies and giants, Cimmerii who live in 
perpetual darkness, men whose heads grow beneath their shoulders, 
griffins, demigods, mythological stories etc. 

How do such compare with the plain and simple narrative of Bible 
truth? How does it come that no such errors are there? Whence 
this pure worship? What was the boasted religion of the heathen 
but the vain and sacrilegious sacrifices offered by impenitent, san- 
guinary, and ambitious sinners, wanting in every virtue? 

Where God's revelation is, there alone exists truth, justice, mercy, 
or humanity. The whole religious system of Greece and Rome was 
the result of sinful passions and subservient to them. All was dark 
and gloomy, or voluptuous and sensual. They were sinners, and 
their worship was a compound of sensuality — sin ripened into sacri- 
lege, baptized religion. Nor was this peculiar to these sinners, but 
the consequence of a want of revelation; modern infidels have no 
better moral theory. 

Hobbs thinks ability the only limit to desire. Bolingbroke, that 
polygamy is a part of the religion of nature. Hume regarded adul- 
tery as right. Voltaire advocated unlimited self-indulgence. Rous- 
seau's only standard was selfishness. 

Their views of creation were no better ; some holding the trans- 
migration of souls, some that man is a degenerate god, and some 
that he is a cultivated ape. 

Doctor Whewell said life grows out of dead matter ; the higher 
animals out of the lower, and man out of brutes. 

Sinners in America or Europe, in times ancient or modern, infidel 
to Christ or ancient idolaters, ever have sought and will seek self- 
indulgence, selfishness, impurity, sensuality. And no system was 
ever better calculated to minister to this than idolatry, i. e. , ancient 
infidelity. Their gods were as numerous and multiform as sensual 
desires. They worshiped the god of wine in drunken carnival. 
They honored the gods of love in voluptuous debauchery. Their 
devotion was degrading, their religion a compound of cruel rites and 
more cruel sacrifices, whimsical notions, impious opinions, impure 
ordinances, and barbarous rites. Their worship honored brutal love, 
and scandalized human modesty. The dearest victims shrieked on 
bleeding altars. Lovely children were cast into fiery furnace gods. 
Human blood was the great oblation. 

" Who has not heard where Egypt's realms are named — 
What monster gods her frantic sons have framed? 
Here Ibis, gorged with well-grown serpents, there 
The Crocodile commands religious fear; 



170 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Where Memuon's statue, magic strings inspire 

With vocal sounds that emulate the lyre; 

A monkey-god — prodigious to behold— ' 

Strikes the beholder's eye, with burnished gold; 

To godship here, blue Triton's scaly herd; 

The river progeny is there preferred; 

Through towns, Diana's power neglected lies, 

Where to her gods aspiring temples rise, 

And leeks and onions should you eat, no time 

Would expiate the sacrilegious crime; 

Religious nations' sure and blest abodes, 

Where every orchard is o'errun with gods." 

Said Lucian: "In a magnificent temple, every part of which 
glitters with gold and silver, you look attentively for a god, and are 
cheated with a stork, an ape, or a cat." (Rol. 1, 44.) 

Thus with imperial splendor and costly magnificence, bulls, dogs, 
cats, birds, leeks, onions, snakes, and crocodiles were worshiped. As 
the Scriptures say, ' ' Professing themselves to be wise, they became 
fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image 
like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and 
creeping things." (Rom. 1 : 22, 23.) 

Such was the religion of the country where Moses and his nation 
were educated. Nor was the superstition less revolting in the coun- 
try to which they removed. The gods of the Canaanites were mul- 
titudinous and impotent, yet the sacrifice of children cast into the 
fiery Moloch was their common though inhuman worship. The 
Carthaginians, of the same race, sacrificed the children (Rol. 
1, 235) of the best families to Saturn. At one time, to please their 
bloodthirsty god, two hundred children of the best families, and 
upwards of three hundred other persons were offered, or offered 
themselves in horrid sacrifice. 

All around the Hebrews, on every side, east, west, north, and 
south, arose the most costly temples, where sensual and voluptuous 
pleasure was mingled with religious rites in costly magnificence. 
In the Taganath temple courtesans are supported, for the over one 
million two hundred thousand annual worshipers. For miles around 
the ground is covered with human bones, where dogs and vultures 
feed, presenting altogether the most revolting and heart-harrowing 
scene of the cruel abominations of idolatry ; yet untold millions were 
lavished upon this sensual worship, (Enc. Rel. Kno. p. 712) where 
multitudes wallowed in princely luxury, sensual indulgence, drunk- 
enness and debauchery, to which modern houses of licentiousness 
form no parallel. Temples enriched by the princely munificence of 
powerful empires arrayed in costly splendor under the garb of wor- 
ship, led the youth from virtue's path, and turned the aged out of 
the way. 



BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 171 

The sacrifice of two thousand virgins annually polluted the temple 
of Yenus. The disciples of Bacchus degraded the human race in 
every city by their beastliness. Babylon, Phenicia, Carthage, 
Rome, all united with the cruel and polluted Canaanites in the 
abomination of human sacrifice, and the most degrading develop- 
ment of poor, darkened humanity was seen in religion, where the 
youth expired in bloody sacrifice, and beauty in voluptuous pollu- 
tion. Their gods were examples of crime. Their sacrifices were 
offered to promote ambition, or give success to arms. Their prayers 
were not for pardon or grace, but often for success in battle or suc- 
cess in crime. The uncertain oracle was not a terror to evil doers, 
but a terror to the good, an encourager of sin and of crime for a 
reward. Judges received small gifts, and the poor man's cause was 
lost. A patron god was found for every sin. Thirty thousand gods 
for Greece, and only one unknown, unnamed. Rome, more religious, 
adopted all the gods — river and sea gods, field and flood gods, sober 
and drunken gods, great and little gods ; gods all around, gods every- 
where. As the dim, feeble, flickering stars of the long dark night 
retire before the flooding light of dawning day, while the morning 
sun mounts in his majesty the heavens, to reign alone, the king of 
day ; so retired the gods of heathen night, while the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures poured upon the world celestial light, teaching the most sub- 
lime doctrine concerning God — God the Great, Elohim, Jehovah, 
God alone ! 

The idolaters of Chaldea, Egypt, Greece, and Rome with their 
gorgeous worship stood astonished to hear their gods deprecated as 
vanity, and their religion as sin, and laws forbidding all mingling in 
their worship, under penalty of death. "Your gods," so said the 
Jews, "your gods are no gods; but four-footed beasts and creeping 
things ; idols made by the carpenters. Eyes have they, but they see 
not; they have ears, but hear not. 1 ' 

The loftiest conceptions of a nation are centered in its religion, its 
sublimest views culminate in its God. Men never rise above their 
beau-ideal of deity. The Hebrew faith was incomparably sublime : 
"There is one God, and but one." But he is universal, comprehend- 
ing all power and excellence, immense, infinite, and eternal. With 
Him, all the gods of the idolaters with all their worshipers, are but 
as the fine dust in the balance. A Creator without beginning. A 
Father of all without a parent. The cause of all, yet uncaused. The 
God of all, having no God. Above all, but none above Him. Asking 
no favor, seeking no counsel, knowing no equal. Doing all his 
pleasure in the heavens above, and in the earth. Purer than the 
light. Holier than the heavens. ITnfelt, but upholding all. Un- 
heard, but ever near. Unseen, but ever here. Present everywhere. 

The glory of the light of God rested upon Abraham and his chil- 
dren. Four hundred years were they in adversity amid the idolatry 



172 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

of Egypt. Then, a nation of refugees, God brought them to Mt. 
Sinai to hear his law by Moses. Will he humor the prejudice of the 
age? The lawgivers of the proud European nations have ever pan- 
dered to the people's superstition. But the first article of the new 
law struck down idolatry: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is 
one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. 
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make to 
thyself any graven image, or the likeness of anything, to worship it. 1 ' 

OBJECTIONS. 

It is objected to the humanity of the Hebrews : ( 1 ) that they 
cut off the Canaanites; (2) that their laws were severe, as illus- 
trated by the proverb "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; 
( 3 ) ' 'And thou hast heard that it was said in olden time : ' Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.' " 

These were not Jewish laws. ( 1 ) As to the first, the Canaanites 
had entered into the country of the Hebrews, had filled it with 
abominations, and refused to permit their return. They possessed 
it by might. (2) The only law of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth 
for a tooth," was in case a man broke out a tooth, or put out an 
eye of a servant ; he was commanded to set him free for the eye's 
sake, and that the false witness should suffer the penalty which his 
desire would have inflicted on his enemy— "an eye for an eye, and 
a tooth for a tooth;" (3) "Thou shalt love thy friend and hate 
thine enemy," was a saying of olden time, but not a law of the Jews. 

Than the cruelty of the heathen laws, nothing more horrible ; than 
the humanity of the Hebrews, nothing more beautiful. The heathen 
universally used tortures, the Hebrews never. The heathen had 
two hundred ways of inflicting capital punishment; the Jews but 
one. The heathen made war to plunder property and secure captives 
for slaves. With the Hebrews, the man-thief suffered death. One 
witness could not convict, and if the witness testified falsely, he 
suffered the penalty his victim would have incurred. If a criminal 
was executed, his body was removed before night. With the 
heathen, they remained till they wasted away. The heathen had no 
laws for the unfortunate. The Hebrew law was for the unfortunate : 
" Cursed be he that causeth the blind to wander out of his way." 

Heathen philosophy is displayed in its dark colors in regard to 

WOMEN. 

Pagan nations sacrificed female modesty, and tyrannized over 
women. It is so yet. In Hindostan, it is shameful to keep com- 
pany with a woman. In Guinea, she never eats with her husband. 
In the Caribbee Islands, she dare not eat in his presence. So with 
Greece and Rome: Woman was the property of the man, to be 
sold, sacrificed, lent, or tortured. By her husband's judgment or 



HUMANITY OF JEWISH LAWS 173 

caprice she was judged. With her father's counsel, she was slain. 
To be possessed of her husband's keys, or taste his wine, the penalty 
was death. ( Gib. 1, 273.) God's law made woman man's compan- 
ion, and protected her. 

CHILDREN. 

While the Hebrew laws were exceedingly careful for children, the 
heathen sacrificed them. The Canaanites, Egyptians, Carthagin- 
ians, Romans, and other nations offered them in sacrifice. Both 
Greece and Rome, in their purest days, destroyed female children. 
In Sparta, unhealthy children were cast out to die. The power of a 
Roman over the whole life of his child,' was as that of a master over 
his slave. Even if he sold his son, the son became his again if freed ; 
and it was a great boon gained when, by law, a father could free his 
son by a third sale. In truth, the Roman could sell his wife and 
children as he could his horses, or kill them as he could his pigs. 
Examples of such bloody executions were often praised, but never 
blamed, says Gibbon. Tacitus, the great Roman historian, records 
it as worthy of note, that "it was deemed criminal in a Jew to kill 
any of his children. " 

POOR. 

Nothing shows the humanity of a people more than its laws for 
the poor. In Rome, the poor were systematically oppressed, thank- 
ful to live. The twelve tables forbade the patricians intermarrying 
with them ; and, as judges were permitted to receive small presents, 
the murder of a poor man could be bought off for a small price. 

The Hebrews made large provisions for the poor. They were to 
open their hand wide unto their poor brother, and the Lord would 
bless them. They were commanded to assist the poor and not to 
demand interest. They were to leave the corners of the field, and 
the stray sheaf, and a few figs, and olives on the trees, for the poor. 
If the poor man's land was sold, after six years it came to him again. 
Numerous were the laws for the poor, the widow, the fatherless, and 
the stranger. Deut. 10; Ex. 20; Lev. 25. 

Every third "year all farmers were to donate a tenth of all their 
produce that the Levite, stranger, fatherless, and widow might come 
and eat and be satisfied. Deut. 14 and 16. 

STRANGERS. 

Rome permitted her judges to receive small bribes ; hence the poor 
and the stranger, the widow and fatherless were never safe. The 
Hebrews permitted the judge to receive no gift. Lycurgus banished 
strangers from Sparta. ( Hartzell 232.) 

The Hebrew law said: "Thou shalt not vex the stranger nor 
oppress him. for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. The Lord 
loveth the stranger, etc. Love ye therefore the strangers, as those 



174 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

born among you." Even Grecians could not pass from state to state, 
and marry or purchase land. 
What a contrast ! 

SLAVERY. 

The Hebrew laws on servitude were so humane that slavery could 
not be said to exist. 

1. Captives were not to be cruelly oppressed. 

2. The Hebrew servant was not to be compelled. 

3. The fugitive was not to be returned. The law said, "Thou 
shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant which has escaped 
from his master unto thee. He shall dwell with thee in that place 
which he shall choose. Thou shalt not oppress him." 

4. When thou sendest away a servant, thou shalt not let him go 
away empty ; thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and 
out of thy floor, and out of thy wine. It shall not seem hard unto 
thee, for the Lord thy God shall bless thee. 

5. If a master smote out the eye or the tooth of a servant, that 
servant was free for his tooth's sake. They had no fugitive slave 
law, and they are the only ancient people who had no servile re- 
bellion. 

The Roman master could slaughter his slaves, cast their bodies to 
his fish, or butcher them for his amusement. Roman laws subjected 
slaves of both sexes to the will, or brutal abuse of their masters. 
The Hebrew protected them. Even Cato trafficked in his beautiful 
slaves, as did Socrates with his abused wife. With the Romans, 
the slave, the wife, the child, all were chattels. The slaves of Lace- 
demonia were scourged yearly, to keep them servile in spirit. And 
if any looked above his condition, he was slain. In truth, they were 
often slain for exercise or amusement. 

In Rome it was no better. Not black slaves ; they had none ; but 
white: Greeks, Germans, and strangers from Britain, our mother 
England Isle. 

MARRIAGE. 

In the earliar days of Greece, marriage was unknown, the people 
living in a savage state. The Hebrews have no uncivilized state. 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Joseph and Moses, are all types of a 
high degree of civilization. Abraham was a learned man, noted 
among the heathen as a teacher of the celestial science. Voltaire 
advocates the opinion that in the East they worship him under the 
title of Brahma. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joseph were 
gentlemen; more truly so than Pericles, Themistocles, Cato, or 
Cicero. In the best days of Greece and Rome, marriage had no 
sanctity, and its violation by the husband was no crime. In Egypt, 
Chaldea, Persia, and other Eastern states, there was no relation 
prohibited. Brother and sister, father and daughter, mother and 



BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 175- 

son, intermarried. Cleopatra was the wife of her brother ; Emperor 
Claudius married his niece. From the Hebrews alone we derive the 
laws regulating marriage. Even the New Testament has them not. 

KINDNESS. 

Hebrew laws were humane — none to be punished but criminals, 
and these by no strange tortures. Even in the treatment of animals 
humanity is taught : "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth 
out the corn. Thou shalt not take the dam with its young; thou 
shalt not kill the animal that is pursued, and taketh refuge with thee, 
like a suppliant in thine house." In their wars, satisfaction was 
demanded before a declaration of war ; but Rome made war simply 
for robbery. 

The Hebrews were allowed to take up arms only in self-defense, or 
to procure justice. Even then waste and havoc were prohibited. 
Said their law, "Are the trees enemies which can fight against you, 
so that you must cut them down ? " 

The general law concerning captives was equal to the most ap- 
plauded exception to the heathen course. As the object of the heathen 
laws was oppression, — they made war on innocent nations to plunder 
their property and to enslave their persons, — the object of the 
Hebrew laws was benevolence and humanity. The great object, 
aim, and ambition of a nation is seen in its laws. Spartan laws were 
to make soldiers; Roman, to make conquerors; Tyrian, to make 
merchants ; Phoenician, to make navigators. The Hebrew laws were 
to secure person and property, and to inculcate love and piety. Why 
this difference? Why this Hebrew law: "Thou shalt not covet." 
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Why this care for the 
poor? The only answer is, The law came from our great Father, 
and is a law for his children. 

LEARNING. 

Learning was always cultivated by the Jews. Moses was learned 
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. One whole tribe of over a 
fiftieth part of the nation formed a learned nobility and an educational 
college. Their occupation was in learning and science. They studied 
the law; wrote copies of the Scriptures; were judges, genealogists, 
secretaries, judges of weights and measures ; announced the time of 
the movable feasts (determined by the heavenly bodies), requiring 
the study of mathematics and astronomy. They were thus enabled 
to state the intercalary years correctly and preserve their calendar 
from corruption. 

How was it with ours ? 

Romulus having founded Rome, arranged the calendar, and instead 
of adopting the Hebrew year of twelve mollis and one intercalary. 



176 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

established his year of ten months, or three hundred and four aays. 
Numa saw that this would not answer, as it ran the summer all 
around the year. He therefore set to work to regulate the universe. 
The Egyptians commenced the year in September, or autumn, the 
Greeks in June, or summer, the Hebrews in Nisan (middle of May), 
the spring. But of course a Roman could commence the world when 
he pleased, so he put its natal day in winter (January), and added 
two months to its length, making it three hundred and fifty-five days, 
making the months of twenty -nine and thirty days alternating, only 
February he made twenty-eight days, making it an even, that is, an 
unlucky number, for which he cared not, as in it were offered the 
sacrifices to the gods infernal. The Greeks corrected their calendar 
by adding a month of twenty -two and alternate twenty -tree days 
every second year. But Numa's. year would not work in harmony 
with the sun, and stars, and seasons. Julius Csesar concluded to set 
the calendar by ifc. He sent to Alexandria for Sosigines, who put 
in three hundred and sixty -five days and six hours, the six hours to 
make a day for February every sixth year and now and then a day 
to other months; but by some blunder in the machinery the first 
year ran four hundred and forty-five days, or some three months too 
many, and was irreverently called the year of confusion. The fol- 
lowing years did better, but still the moons and feasts came around 
wrong. So in 1581, Pope Gregory, — the successor, not of Christ or 
Peter, as some suppose, but the successor of Romulus, Numa, and 
Constantine, — adopted one day for each century; cut off ten days 
from the calendar, making the new style March 2 to be March 12. 
Whatever became of March 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of that year 
no one knows, but some suppose them to have gone after the ten 
lost tribes. 

The Hebrews, of all ancient nations, best understood the revolu- 
tions, as we speak, of the sun and moon, the art of intercalation, and 
other astronomical knowledge, by which they preserved their calen- 
dar free from the confusion to which the Greeks and Romans were 
subject. Their tradition was that the knowledge was revealed to 
Moses, and was a secret, other nations only gradually learning it. 
(Jews, 45.) 

It is true that the Scriptures do not teach astronomy, yet some of 
the finest allusions to that science found in the world, previous to 
modern discovery, are in the Bible. 

' ' Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season ? or canst thou 
guide Arcturus and his sons?" "Canst thou bind the sweet influ- 
ences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ? " Pleiades was the 
cardinal constellation of spring, and Orion ushered in the winter. 
Mazzaroth designated the zodiac, and represented the seasons ; Arc- 
turus was the pole star, with his sons attendant stars; so this 
beautiful passage may tfc paraphrased : 



MOSAIC ORDER CORRECT 177 

Canst thou guide the pole star by his retinue ? They are the guide 
-of all. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth with his season ? Canst 
thou hinder the sweet influence of spring, ushered in by the Pleiades, 
or loose the bands of Orion with his winter months ? 

The first chapter of Genesis gives the true geological order of 
creation: 

1. The primeval creation. 

2. The Spirit of God brooding upon the waters. 

3. Came light. 

4. The firmament. 

5. The dry land; and John's revelation (Rev. 11) intimates 
earthquakes. 

6. Vegetation. 

7. The next in order are the sun, moon, and stars. 

8. Then birds and fishes. 

9. The living creatures. 

10. Creation closes with man. 

So said Moses, and so testifies geology. The order is the same, and 
the creation of man closes the work, geologically and historically. 

ON LANGUAGE. 

The Hebrew may be the original. For proof of this, I give the 
following : 

1. The Old Testament, the oldest writing in the world, is written 
in it. 

2. It is older than Abraham, as he found a people everywhere 
speaking it. 

3. The names, also, of nations and places, however ancient, are 
of Hebrew origin ; as, Assyrians from Ashur, Elamites from Elam, 
Lydians from Lud, Cimmerians from Gomer, Medians from Madai, 
Ionians from Javan. 

4. Thus, also, the names of the principal heathen gods; as, 
Japetus is from Japhet, hence Jupiter ; Jove is from Jehovah, Jupi- 
ter Hammon from Ham. 

5. The next proof is that the words of which, it is composed are 
very few and short. 

6. Also, the names of things are significant of their nature. 

7. Again, all ancient languages abound in words derived from 
the Hebrew. 

8. The letters are the original of all alphabets. 

Thus it is said that the Phoenicians invented the alphabet, and 
Cadmus, the Phoenician, taught it to the Greeks ; but the Phoenicians 
were the Canaanites, and spake the Hebrew language. It being 
admitted by the learned world that the Phoenician alphabet is the 
original, it follows that the Hebrew is the original, as the Phoenician 
is the Hebrew. 

12 



1T8 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

That the Hebrew may be the primitive alphabet is proved also by- 
each letter's being the picture and name of something : thus, awleph, 
ox, resembles the animal; beth is house, and resembles it; gimel is 
camel, and resembles it; daleth is door, and resembles it; vav is 
hook, and resembles it ; pe is mouth, etc. But enough. 

9. Having sufficiently proved the Hebrew primitive and hiero- 
glyphic, we have only now to prove that the others came from the 
same original. This is easily done. First, ours is the Roman. We 
call it the "alphabet." Alphabet proves the Greek origin of the 
name, as alphabet is but a contraction of alpha-beta, the first two 
letters of the Greek. The Greeks confess that theirs was taught by 
Cadmus, the Phoenician, who spake the Hebrew. Also, the names 
of the letters prove all derived from one. Thus, the Hebrew is 
a{iv)leph, beth, gimel, da{w)leth; Greek, alpha, beta, gama, delta; 
Ethiopic, alph, bet, gemel, den; Samaritan, a(w)leph, beth, gimel y 
da(w)leth; Chaldee, a(w)leph, beth, gimel, da(w)leth; Arabic, elif, 
be, gim, did; Syriac, olaph, beth, gomal, dolath; and so, all through 
they have mostly the same letters, with little change of the old 
Hebrew names. Even in pronunciation such is the origin of our 
alphabet, our A B C's, our alphabet, our alpha-beta, our awleph-beth- 
gimmel, our ABC's. Those who deny the inspiration are forced 
to the fatal alternative — forced to admit that these early Hebrews 
were engravers of no mean attainment, as they engraved on precious 
stones; chemists in advance of their age, as they reduced gold to 
powder ; lawyers whose code modern legislators study with wonder- 
ing admiration; historians who compiled the earliest authentic 
history extant ; geometricians, as proved by the plans of the taber- 
nacle; fine architects, as proved by the temple; astronomers, who 
gave the world the first approach to a perfect calendar; and if not 
geologists, at least those who gave us a geological order of creation. 

The Hebrews were not void of science, yet pure in their sentiments, 
of moral excellence, while Greeks and Romans knew less of ethics 
than Indians of algebra. 

Zeno, the stoic, sanctioned the foulest impurities. Diogenes, ' the 
cynic, was as foul in his morals as in his manners. Lycurgus, the 
boast of Laconia, legalized the murder of children, and the mild 
Solon, the light of Athens, approved the exposure of delicate infants 
and females. Draco's bloody code is the horror of all lands. The 
divine Plato recommended a community of wives. Aristotle taught 
it right to make war on uncivilized nations. Cato the elder was a 
barbarous master, and Cato the younger a brutal husband. 

Let not the skeptic reflect on those model nations of idolatrous 
civilization. They were superior to the atheist of modern times. 
What have men to do with morality who deny God and revelation ? 
men who, as many modern infidels, contend that the animal is but 
an improved vegetable, and man the improved animal? men who- 



BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 179 

deny creation, and suppose themselves descended, through remote 
ancestors, from the ape and the monkey, and these again from those 
still lower — the quadruped or reptile ? 

Come, you men without a God, come, tell me where you find the 
rules of virtue ? In nature ? u Ah, yes! in nature." To which of the 
fields of nature shall we turn ? To the appetites, or to the passions ? 
to the fields, or to the flood ? Which of the pages of the great book 
of nature teaches that man should be cultivated, virtuous, or just f 
Where is the rule for justice in nature ? Where is the practice of 
virtue in nature ? Where the type of cultivation ? Why, if man 
is but a cultivated brute, are there none in heaven or earth just 
beside him? No God! no revelation! no hereafter! Why should 
man abide by laws ? Thus argue Hume and Rousseau ; thus act the 
mass of unbelievers. ' ' I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel 
go," said Pharaoh. In other words, as he knew not God, he was not 
bound by conscience. 

Tell me, ye materialists, who regard yourselves but cultivated 
animals, men without souls, men descended from brutes, why should 
you be better than your forefathers, the apes ? Why should you be 
better than your brethren, the orang-outangs ? Why should you 
set yourselves up above your ancestors ? Why treat your parents so 
rudely ? Why "put on airs," and forget the rock from whence you 
were hewn, and the pit from whence you were digged ? Why should 
you be better than your neighbors, your fellow-beings — the hyena, 
rattlesnake, or tiger ? Have you not the same origin and the same 
end ? Is not the present with you both ; both godless, soulless, hope- 
less of the future ? Are they not guided by instinct and you by 
reason, halting, doubting? Do you not confess your need of going 
back to nature for a guide, and that the present is all in all ? What 
then do they teach you? These your relatives, your ancestors, 
your brethren, your cousins, — are they not supremely selfish ? Do 
they not destroy the weak, like real Romans ? destroy their unfortu- 
nate offspring like genuine Spartans ? Are they not real epicures, 
voluptuous in passion and gormandizing in appetite ? Are they not 
often stubbornly Avillful — real stoics, more unmoved than the 
donkey ? Is not the mastiff basking in the sun a noble, as well as 
patriarchal philosopher of the true cynic school, barking every Alex- 
ander from between him and the sun ? Could old Diogenes betake 
himself more gracefully to his tub ? Come, tell me; if man be but a 
cultivated brute, why should he be more virtuous than his ancestors, 
the ape or monkey ? 

Do you answer, "Virtue is its own reward" ? That is true on the 
supposition that man is a superior being, spiritual ; that he has a soul 
and a future ; that there is a God who has established virtue as the 
right, and heaven as the reward ; and that in all the realm of mind, 
God is the substance of virtue and evil the substance of vice. 



180 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Let us suppose a race of men and women with no souls, no future 
life, no God to glorify, no heaven to win, and who would regard them 
as responsible or worthy of consideration ? Tell such that virtue is 
its own reward : to be cultivated is simply a mercantile test of profit 
and loss ; thus degrade virtue, as they are degraded, to a mere ques- 
tion of selfishness, and you cannot prove to them that virtue is its 
own reward. Virtue requires abstinence, self-denial, sacrifice. To 
keep our body under, our appetites are to be denied, our natural 
wishes to be strangled, our desires to be consumed, our sweetest 
hopes to be quenched; right hands must be cut off. right eyes must 
be plucked out, and aU selfish desires sacrificed upon the altar of duty. 
Can this apply to the godless, soulless materialists, who believe 
themselves but an improved generation of the ape ? Certainly not ! 
Man, as man, the child of God, can find happiness in self-denial ; but 
the atheist or idolater, except when enlightened by the piercing rays 
of revelation, however intellectual, can give no reason for a higher 
cultivation of morality than that practiced by Greece and Rome, and 
advocated by Paine, Rousseau, and Voltaire. 

The conclusion is that the Bible is the greatest lever which moves 
the world forward in truth, science, education, civilization, human- 
ity, and religion. Once it was strange that John should say, "There 
was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the 
earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great." (Rev. 16:18.) 
Now, science has discovered that the greatest earthquakes pre- 
ceded man. 

Sir John Herschel says truly: "All human discoveries seem to 
be made only for the purpose of confirming more strongly the truths 
come from on high and contained in the Holy Scriptures." (Tul- 
lidge, 158.) 

As of physical science, so also of religion, law, ethics, morals, mar- 
riage, civilization, humanity. 

The Bible, by which we know our origin, is of the Hebrews. The 
Decalogue, the great constitution that no time makes antique, is 
Hebrew. The prophets and apostles were all Hebrews. The Psalms 
were written by a Hebrew. The great commandment, "Love God 
with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself," is Hebrew. The 
sublime sentiment, "The Lord our God is one God," is Hebrew. 
The Lord's prayer, the Golden Rule, were first pronounced by 
Hebrew lips. The Holy Bible, the divine revelation, exalted the 
Hebrews among the nations of the earth, arid the sacred writings 
will guide modern nations to exalted places. Guided by these won- 
derful laws, the Hebrew nation, confined to a mere garden spot of 
Asia, became one of the most renowned nations of the earth. 

David and Solomon, one of whom has given the world the Psalms 
and the other the Proverbs, are among the most celebrated of kings. 
Cyrus the Great reverenced the Jewish people, even in adversity. 



HEBREWS SUPERIOR TO HEATHEN 181 

The great Artaxerxes and Darius considered themselves honored 
in righting their wrongs. Alexander the Great, the warrior, became 
a worshiper as he approached Jerusalem. Neighboring princes 
rejoiced in the opportunity of assisting in building the great temple. 
The Queen of the South came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.. Their 
history, their prophets, their law, their psalms, and then proverbs 
are known in all civilized nations, and they, though scattered in the 
four quarters of the globe, in every country, speaking every tongue, 
bankers, merchants, are the same ancient people, — Jews, — like their 
burning bush, living through the fire, as much superior to the fabled, 
mythological, or real race of Greeks or Romans as day is superior to 
night. Even to-day the Rothschilds govern the financial world, and 
the mightiest potentates of Europe wait at their counters. Their 
Moses superior to Lycurgus, their David superior to Numa, their 
Solomon superior to Caesar, their Job superior to Homer, their Joseph 
superior to Aristides, they were in all things a greater people, a wiser 
nation. They were a nation of nobler conceptions of religion, purer 
ethical philosophy, truer views of humanity, higher ideas of woman's 
nobility, cherishing feelings more refined by modesty ; yet they lived 
not up to their privileges, and the times of reformation drew on. As 
earthquakes were needed to break up the rocky strata, so are mighty 
revolutions needed in nations; so was it with the Hebrews. The 
lamps were burning dimly in the temple ; the fires upon their altars 
had nearly expired, when the cry, "Behold, he cometh,'' sounded 
from afar, echoing o'er hill and valley, and startling the slumbering 
nations. 

The Persian Magi came to Jerusalem to inquire, and the priests 
searched the records. The Desire of all nations, the Messiah, was 
to be born in Bethlehem ( Bethlehem was near Jerusalem), was to 
come to his temple (the temple then stood; the next century it was 
gone). He was to be born during the reign of these kings, and the 
last was reigning; to be born in a time of peace, and the temple of 
Janus was now shut; he was to come before the scepter departed 
from Judah, and the last king was on the throne by permission ; he 
was to come when looked for, and all nations were looking for a 
deliverer. 

But, of the Savior's coming and death, I rest the testimony with 
heathen, Jewish, or infidel historians. 

Tacitus, the great Roman historian, says : "Most of the Jews had 
a persuasion that it was contained in the ancient books of their priests 
that, at that very time, the East should grow powerful, and some 
person from Judea should gain the dominion." (Simpson, p. 127. > 
Suetonius said: "There was an old and fixed opinion all over the 
East that it was decreed by heaven that about that time some person 
from Judea should obtain the dominion over all." (Ibid., p. 127.) 
Josephus said: "That which chiefly excited the Jews to the war 



182 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

against the Romans was a dubious oracle found in their sacred writ- 
ings that about that time one of them from their parts should reign 
over the world." (Ibid., p. 127.) There was a star to arise out of 
Jacob, and the Persian Magi had seen the star, and were journeying 
to Jerusalem. When, by night, as the shepherds on the plains of 
Judea were feeding their flocks, heaven seemed coming nearer to 
earth, the glory of God shined round about them, and the songs of 
the celestial beings filled the sky with melody ; and an angel, stoop- 
ing to them said: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day ... a 
Savior, which is Christ the Lord. . . . And suddenly there was with 
the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men." Jesus, the friend of dinners, the Son of God, had come. 

His relation to God and man is given by Paul: "Christ Jesus, 
who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
[like is like, not equal. — Macknight] with God; but made himself of 
no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was 
made in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death 
of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and 
given him a name which is above every name : that at the name of 
Jesus every knee should bow, ... to the glory of God the Father. " 
(Phil. 2:7-11.) 

Before deciding on the claims of the Savior, do you cast a lingering 
look back to the classic fields of Greece and Rome ? Very well. I 
do not like to see friends part too readily. Go, visit your friends 
once more. Examine their religion, philosophy, and life: mark 
their charitable institutions; behold their colleges; witness their 
domestic economy, and understand their laws. You will allow the 
imaginary groupings of distant scenes for the convenience of inspec- 
tion. You visit Sparta, Athens, Rome, Pompeii, every remote 
city, but you find the heathen world, with all our reverence for 
it, without a single house of mercy. Search all the public places 
of Constantinople, or ancient Rome. Search every street and 
every avenue, every paper, every inscription; you will find no 
record of any asylum for humanity. Not one charitable institu- 
tion was known among them. We search the ancient marbles 
in the museums, descend and ransack the graves of Herculaneum 
and Pompeii, question the many travelers who have visited the 
ruined cities of ancient Greece and Rome, but, amid the splendid 
remains of statues and amphitheaters, baths, granaries, temples, aque- 
ducts, and palaces, mausoleums, columns, and triumphal arches, not 
a single fragment or inscription can be found, telling us that it 
belonged to a refuge of human want, or for the alleviation of human 
misery. All the asylums of the earth — for poverty, decrepitude, or 



BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 183 

age — are to be traced to the influence of the Bible. You have heard 
of the wisdom of Socrates, and you find him, while in the act of 
lending his wife, as a Hebrew only could a brute, you find him speak- 
ing very fine sentiments of philosophy, and are astonished at such a 
strange mixture of light and darkness, wisdom and ignorance. To 
perfect the climax of absurdity, he is condemned to death for teach- 
ing that there is but one God, and in his dying words he directs a 
sacrifice to be offered to the serpent Esculapius. You turn from the 
scene, almost doubting who are insane — the people, yourself, or 
Socrates the philosopher. You hear the renowned Pericles exalted 
as a superior being, and find him living with a harlot, while Aristides 
the Just is ostracised. You conclude to visit Sparta, and are aston- 
ished to see outside the city and in what at first you took to be a 
great battle, dead men lying all around, others lying in their blood, 
dying. Soon you find that the slaughter of the nobler-looking or 
better-minded slaves is ordered by law, and this having been too 
long neglected, the masters have been fined, and now the people have 
made it a holiday exercise, as they feared that sparing them, they 
might incite an insurrection. Your heart faints, and you meditate 
and ask : "Am I in a country of men, or a land of demons ? Is this 
boasted Greece ? " You pass out of the city to a place where infants 
are cast out, and find their bones scattered around, and the dogs, not 
satisfied with the dead, are devouring one just cast out, the quick 
flesh quivering, and the tiny hand vainly pushing the maw of the 
greedy hound. You ask yourself : "Is this Laconia ? Is this classic 
Greece ? " On inquiry you find that the laws of Sparta require the 
exposure of delicate children. Female infants are frequently cast 
away, while all females are at the disposal of their parents, to raise 
or destroy, as they choose. Sick at heart, you ask, "Have they no 
God to guide them?" You sigh for religion, but turning to the 
costly temples, you find them filled with courtesans. A female priest 
pronounces uncertain oracles at Delphi, while warlike princes, san- 
guinary, ambitious, invaders, and pirates, procure, with bribes taken 
from the spoils of their last adventures, oracles favorable to inspire 
confidence in their followers. You hear no prayer for grace; no 
kneeling suppliant asks for mercy ; no confession of sin is made ; no 
true religion is seen, or heard, or felt. 

• You return to Athens and inquire : ' ' Who is your great man ? Lead 
me to your philosopher." They point him out, and you hear a chorus 
sing: " Honor to the hero. This is the favorite. " You examine his 
private and public record, and find him an assassin, an incestuous 
person, a parricide, and traitor. He dies by self-murder, uttering 
blasphemies, but is regarded as a man of merit. A statue is erected 
to his memory, and posterity reverences his classic name and applauds 
his greatness. You visit the public places, and unchaste statues 
salute your eyes everywhere. Oh, classic Greece ! You find altars 



184 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

to the "unknown god/' and wish in your heart that all her gods were 
unknown. 

At Rome you find the people rejoicing over their victories in dis- 
tant fields. Paulus Emilius inarches under the triumphal arch. He 
has destroyed seventy Grecian cities, and leads one hundred and 
fifty thousand Grecians to the Roman market to be sold into slavery. 
You view the fair-featured Caucasian, the Grecian slave, — every age 
and sex, youth and beauty, — and you ask why war was made on 
those distant cities, and they reply, " To extend the Empire of Rome." 
You turn aside from the lamentations of the despairing captives to 
the house of a noted patrician, to whom you have letters. A slave, 
chained to his post, opens the door for your admission. Everything 
is grand and sumptuous in the building; but when you dine, you 
find inferior guests are seated at an inferior table, with more homely 
fare, and half-starved slaves, half naked, wait at the board in servile 
attitude. Overwhelmed with the injustice, cruelty, and barbarism 
of the Roman laws, you decide to leave ; but as you approach the 
door, an aged, half -starved slave timidly endeavors to elude observa- 
tion, *but the quick eye of the master detects the slave's infirmities, 
and he rudely orders him to be cast out to die ; that since he can no* 
longer work, he may not involve him in needless expense. You re- 
monstrate, but are informed that this is the usual custom with 
superannuated slaves, though sometimes they are slain, and at others 
left on an island in the Tiber to perish. He now informs you that, 
his son having been executed, he will accompany you in your walk. 
You ask him for an explanation of the heart-rending groans, and 
he points you to where, at one of his neighbor's, a number are 
engaged in hewing to pieces several worn-out slaves, whose bodies 
are thrown into a fishpond to fatten the fish and enrich their flavor. 

Next visit the Colliseum. It is a Roman holiday, and forty 
thousand people are assembled. You inquire the nature of the 
entertainment, and are informed that, first, gladiators will open the 
day by butchering each other; second, ten wild beasts, — lions, tigers, 
and panthers, — having for some days been fed on human flesh to 
prepare them, will be turned in with an equal number of the finest, 
looking Grecian warriors who have been taken in the last battle; 
that it is supposed that a number of the beasts will be slain, and, 
perhaps, some of the men escape, as they are to be allowed a small 
sword each ; and that the excitement will be intense. The conversa- 
tion turns on domestic matters, and young men boast of their brutal 
gallantries. A father laughs at his wife's scruples the day before 
about killing her new-born infant. Pliny, the philosopher, relates 
his experience in torturing two virgins. You desire to depart, when 
your host invites you to witness the execution of his wife, who is to 
die at that very hour. You ask if it is public, and for what crime she 
suffers ? He replies that the laws leave these matters with the husband 



SUPERIORITY OF THE GOSPEL 185 

and her near relatives ; that the execution will be in his own yard ; 
that she was convicted of the doubly capital offense of holding his 
keys and tasting his wine, for either of which she could be put to death. 
You hear the growling of the beasts, and remain till you see the first 
gladiator die. Unable longer to bear the sight, you turn away, while 
the merry laugh of the spectators of both sexes rings in your ears. 
Your host laughs at your sentimentality, and assures you that both 
priests and philosophers join in the entertainment without scruple ; 
tells you that even Cato, the man almost divine, enriches himself by 
his traffic in the chastity of his female slaves. Then he tells you low 
and confidentially that your feelings are not only absurd, but dan- 
gerous, as the people will not allow you to cast disrespect upon their 
domestic institutions. 

Gladly you return to Judea to seek the New Prophet of humanity. 
You have examined the religion, and understood the laws and 
customs of boasted Greece and Rome. Return now to Jerusalem, 
visit Galilee and find a better religion, then ask, "Is it wonderful 
that Christianity triumphed ? " 

Examine the laws o£ the new religion. 

1. What are they on freedom and liberty ? " Call no man mas- 
ter, for one is your Master, even Christ. " 

2. What on servants? "He that would be greatest among you, 
let him be servant of all." 

3. What on marriage? "Therefore shall a man forsake father 
and mother, and cleave unto his wife. " 

4. What on the subjugation of the wife? "In Christ there is 
neither male nor female ; for all are one in Christ. They twain shall 
be one flesh." 

5. What of children? "It is not the will of your Father in 
heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. " 

6. What of the poor ? "To the poor the gospel is preached." 

7. What of our enemies? "Love your enemies." "Love thy 
neighbor as thyself." "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain 
mercy." " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
also unto them." "Blessed are the pure in heart." "If ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father which is in heaven 
forgive you your trespasses." "Blessed are the peacemakers, for 
they shall be called the children of God ? " 

Let the infidel bear witness. I quote from Barker : 
"The finest specimen of moral greatness on record is Jesus 
Christ. There is something in the character of Christ unspeakably 
sublime, something infinitely great. His goodness is most strik- 
ing, most touching, most enchanting, most transporting. I can- 
not imagine an object more lovely than Christ. I cannot conceive 
greatness more divine and glorious than his. His whole life is spent 
in comforting those whom the world oppressed. In him they learn 



186 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

justice and imbibe hope. He speaks to them gently: 'Blessed are 
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. ' He speaks to them 
tenderly: 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 1 
He speaks to them kindly : ' Come learn of me, for I am meek and 
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls. ' He discourses 
sublime goodness with living illustrations — goodness of heart, ten- 
derness of sympathy, gentleness of compassion, purity of motive, and 
forgiveness of injury. He tells them to do good ; he goes about doing 
good — he lays a foundation for a better government, even on earth. 
Will that foundation stand ? Come and see ! See where it is laid — 
deep in the human heart, the foundation, Christ himself ; Christ in 
us the hope of glory. " 

The heathen, pagan, and Jewish historians continue the record. 
Tacitus witnesses the death of Jesus, Gibbon gives the date ( Decline 
and Fall, 1, 576), and Josephus testifies to the resurrection. But 
the powerful and sanguinary world stood in hostile array, crossing 
the path of his religion. On every side stood the enemy, their 
batteries planted in every direction, their sentinels posted on every 
eminence, their banners floating in every breeze. At every post the 
.great red dragon of sin had marshaled his forces. The Christian 
preacher had no earthly friends. The laws of every state, soldiers of 
every realm, officers of every court, judges of every tribunal, priests 
of every religion, philosophers of every school, youth and beauty, 
fashion and amusements, appetites and passions, wealth and power, 
prejudice of family and influence of age, power of caste and bigotry 
of superstition, — all, all were arrayed against the Christian. Cruel 
torture, fearful suffering, confinement with serpents, exposure to 
wild animals, burning and beheading, every fearful torment, every 
form of death; death before them, death on every hand, death in 
every shape ! Infidelity had the power, and it was not slow to use it. 
But Jesus came prepared for the crisis. All their life had the aris- 
tocracy of earth tyrannized over the multitudes, through the terrors 
of death. Christ came to end this tyranny. Christ came to destroy 
death, and to deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their 
lif etime subject to bondage. Christ called us to immortality. 

To this doctrine ' ' of a future life, improved by every circumstance, " 
Gibbon attributes the success of the Christians. They saw death 
as but a gauze curtain before immortal life. They saw the grave 
only as an avenue to heaven, where Jesus, their Master, had gone. 
The trifling sufferings, which were but for a moment, worked out for 
them "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The 
laws, pains, penalties, prisons, sufferings of death, had no terror. 
They were a generation more brave than Leonidas, more self-sacri- 
ficing than Curtius. 

Fear not them which can kill the body, but have nothing more 
that they can do, said Jesus, and they feared not. "Let not your 



BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS 187 

heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," so I am with you. "I 
will come again and receive you to myself " ; ' l great is your reward 
in heaven. " Jesus offered no earthly kingdom as Mohammed, no sen- 
sual pleasure as the Mormons, no political empire of popery, but all 
was beyond death — on the other side of Jordan. Their treasure was 
in heaven. They lost that love for this life which makes men fear 
death, and they imbibed a love for the future life which made even 
death seem sweet to them. Just enough time in life for their mis- 
sion, and when the work closed, Jesus was to take them home. 
Immortal life was no doubtful hope with them. They had seen some 
of those from the other side, and had a home promised to them 
there. Their pardon was sealed. Then they had a supply which 
the world needed. 

There are in the soul deep wants. It hungers and thirsts after 
something — moral goodness, life, freedom, immortality, heaven — 
much that the world had not to give. They had the supply for this 
need. To those thirsting, they gave living waters ; to the hungry, 
bread of heaven, angel's food ; to the sick, health from God ; to the 
wounded, the healing balm; to those in bonds, freedom. in Christ. 
A moral heroism of character and divine power of faith, a hope 
which rests in heaven, a courage defying danger and braving death, 
is immediately developed. The Jews threaten, but the gospel is 
preached ; they call them drunken, but three thousand are converted ; 
the infidel world marshals its power, but many thousand believe on 
him. The little church is environed about with a world of foes. 
Saul leads the exasperated Jews, and Stephen is a martyr. The 
philosophers are on their right and the priests on their left, multitudes 
slander them, armies butcher them, Neros slaughter them, Plinys 
torture them, but they preach on ; they preach in the temple and in 
the prison; they preach on and on to a dying world. They are 
imprisoned, and tortured, and scourged, and crucified, but the dead 
go to heaven, and the living preach on, until in less than three hun- 
dred years the pagan religion ceases in Rome and the Christian ban- 
ner waves triumphant over the world's capital ! 

Where was the secret of their power ? A world was sick, and they 
had a remedy. A world was dying and they could heal it. A world 
was in bondage, and they gave it freedom. There was persecution, 
but the same faith which saved in this life, gave hope of a future life ; 
and suffering and death had no terror, when heaven was so near. 
Christ is triumphant, and revelation is approved. The great fulcrum 
is found, and the world has been moved forward and is moving for- 
ward in the science of truth. The education of civilization, the 
ethics of true religion, the laws of humanity, the religion of heavenly 
philosophy are established. Institutions for the blind, the lame, the 
deaf and the dumb — ten thousand colleges, and ten times ten thou- 
sand houses, of mercy, are now found springing up all around the 



188 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

world, as a rainbow, with principles of moral grandeur, more beau- 
tifully blended than the rainbow's colors. Christ encircles the 
world with heavenly light — the world that once stood still, is still 
no more. 

The forlorn hope of the infidel has failed. Was astronomy appealed 
to against the Bible? the stars guided to a Savior. Was geology 
summoned to testify against it ? earth discloses her dead to testify 
ibr God. Every science ministered to the divine testimony. While 
the whole earth is studded with the rich gems of Christian charity 
and heavenly grace, God lives. The glory of God and the good of 
men are more important than abstract arts and sciences. Man is 
more than geology, astronomy, or botany; more than rocks or 
trees or stars or suns. The glory of God is promoted by abiding 
by his laws, and the good of man by cultivating his powers, educating 
his virtues and relieving his misfortunes. This day I present you 
revelation as the great means of both ; at once glorifying God and 
exalting man. 

The idolatrous nations of classic ages had speculation without 
truth; science without virtue, power without mercy, statuary without 
modesty, philosophy without purity, literature without honesty, 
bravery without justice, worship without God, ancl religion without 
humanity. Revelation lifts the world from idolatry to the one true 
God, and builds up science, refinement, and civilization among men. 
It establishes justice, cultivates mercy, promotes learning and estab- 
lishes benevolence. To prove this is the work of the hour. 

The funeral oration, which he delivered in the college chapel, at the 
services immediately following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 
was written at a white heat, while it was yet supposed that Confederate 
officers were in the murderous conspiracy. The oration was delivered 
with the utmost solemnity, but with tremendous vehemence, and was 
almost unendurable by any one who excused the murder. There were 
some not only in that neighborhood, but in the very audience. 

If in these later days it seems too severe, we must remember that it 
was delivered by one who himself had been warned by the government 
that men. would murder him. His property had been fired at with 
hostile purpose and successful damage, and an attempt had been made 
to capture and kidnap his person, only frustrated by the prudence of 
his faithful wife; and he did not know but that there were some of the 
men in the very audience. - 

The Southern people long ago forgave him for the attitude he had 
taken toward slavery, and treated him with the greatest consideration 
and most genial hospitality when he was among them; and we only 
give his words here that the reader may understand the impetuous logic 
and vehement fire with wiiich he attacked what he considered wrong. 
His wrath was a terrible thing to meet, even as his love was a delicious 
thing to enjoy. 



FUNERAL ORATION FOR LINCOLN 189 

LINCOLN FUNERAL ORATION. 

We must consider : 

1. Whether war can be right. 

2. Whether war for our Government is right. 

3. Whether the war has been successful. 

I. We assert that all justify war, and answer the question, "Can 
war ever be right ? " thus : 

To those who now compose the peace at any price party, we reply 
that ninety -nine one-hundredths of them are in favor of the slavery 
of negroes, and all are in favor of keeping them from the North, 
unless they come as slaves. Either of these principles commits them 
to a war policy. 

Without war on the enslaved race there can be no slavery. Slav- 
ery is a continued war upon the enslaved. They are seized by 
violence, and held by violence ; the country of slavery is a scene of 
constant violence ; the master, the overseer, the driver are all armed, 
and ready at any moment to shoot down the enemy that dares 
to resist. The slaves know and feel that they are overpowered by a 
stronger party, and hence submit per force. Let it once be under- 
stood that war would not be made on the slave race, and there would 
be no more slavery — slavery would die in a day. The slave captured 
by armed men is held in bondage by armed men, and when striving 
for liberty is shot down by armed men. 

Slavery, therefore, is war on the enslaved race, and the slave is 
held as an abused prisoner of war. 

Therefore, all who are in favor of slavery are hi favor of war — 
war on the weaker party, war on the friendless, war on the poor ; 
they are a war party. 

Those who are in favor of expulsion of the black race are in favor 
of war. Let it be understood that there will be no war on the black 
race, and you cannot expel them or exclude them. If any say, "Do 
it by the law," we reply, "But suppose they unite and resist, — 
then call out force enough to subdue them ? " That is war. 

The truth is, all people are in favor of war at certain times and 
under certain circumstances: war to protect from robbers, war to 
defend families, war to protect property. Let it be understood that 
there would be no war, then horse-thieves would unite and defy the 
law, robbers would unite to prey upon society, wicked men would 
unite to gratify their passion and lust, and government, peace, and 
safety would be at an end. War is the natural result of the neces- 
sity of defense against the wicked. 

In the first peopling of the earth, or any part of the earth, the 
strong naturally desire to govern the weak and possess the power. 
Families, women and children especially, require protection. The 
peace-loving and weak naturally unite in common defense against 



190 SUlMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the strong, to protect wife, daughter, property, life. Laws are then 
made to regulate such unions, and an assault by the strong is resisted 
by force ; and this is war. 

The truth is, war is a necessity for all who would not be slaves. 
The success of the whites in enslaving the blacks is in the blacks* 
repugnance to war. "Through fear of death they are all their 
lifetime subject to bondage," as the Scripture saith. Therefore, also, 
though the Bible denounces war as an evil, and speaks of the day 
when we shall learn war no more as a blessed day, and commends 
non-resistance of evil by individual Christians, yet the Bible nowhere 
teaches that governments may be resisted with impunity, or that it 
is wrong to sustain legal authority by force of arms. It teaches 
plainly the contrary doctrine. Abraham was blessed for following 
and defeating the confederate kings ; the Jews were assisted in con- 
quering the nations; John instructed soldiers in their duty; Jesus 
commended the centurion, without reproving his calling — that of a 
soldier; Paul said, "The magistrate beareth not the sword in vain; 
and he that resisteth, resisteth the ordinance of God " ; and even, on 
the eve of Gethsemane, the disciples could muster two swords. 

ISTo; the right to enforce law and defend government has never 
been questioned by any intelligent people. Therefore, war to enforce 
the law and protect the weak against robbers, tyrants, and evil men, 
is right. It is for this that government was first instituted. Govern- 
ments are leagues entered into for mutual protection; to overawe 
the wicked. 

II. Is the war in defense of our Government right ? 

The objections to defending our Government are as extraordinary 
as unpatriotic. 

1. It is said that the War was not for the Government or country, 
but only for the administration. The wickedness of such false rea- 
soning is apparent ; but what more can be said of any war ? If we 
give up our administration to usurpers and rebels, do we not thus 
give up our country and government to them ? 

2. It is said by some that Jeff. Davis was as good as Lincoln. 
Can it be true that a traitor who has usurped the government without 
an election, who rules in rebellion, who has repudiated our flag and 
Constitution, who makes war upon our country, is just as good as 
a constitutionally elected President ? If so, it is only in the eyes of 
his fellow-traitors. If it is meant that he is just as kind a man, and 
just as able a man, I reply, ( 1 ) there is much proof to the contrary ; 
( 2 ) that kindness and ability give no right to usurp authority and 
make war upon our country. Our liberty depends upon our right to 
elect our rulers according to constitutional law. But Mr. Davis is an 
usurper, making war upon his own country, standing in the column 
with Catiline, of Rome, and Burr and Arnold, of America. 

If we countenance rebellion and usurpation, then elections are use- 



THE CIVIL WAR 191 

less, the elective franchise is a mockery, freedom is a dead thing of 
the past, and we are all slaves. Let this doctrine prevail, and we 
need hold no more elections. 

But it is said that this is Lincoln's war. How can that be, when 
this war had been preparing thirty years ? when Jackson put it down 
in the days of Calhoun ? when it was put off by the Missouri Com- 
promise ? when it was plainly foretold by Thomas Benton? when it 
began by acts of aggression by the South years ago — hanging all who 
thought ill of oppression ? when Cassius Clay only maintained free- 
dom of speech in Kentucky by his revolvers ? when Rev. J. G. Fee 
and all the free churches were expelled from Kentucky during Mr. 
Buchanan's administration ? when the loyal part of the Democratic 
party were rebuffed from the Charleston and Baltimore conventions ? 
when the leaders were resolved on war while in Mr. Buchanan's 
cabinet, and in the Senate of the United States, during his administra- 
tion ? It was there they conspired, there they despoiled the Govern- 
ment, there they robbed the treasury, there they banished the ships 
from our waters, there they stripped our arsenals. 

It was they who sent all the munitions of war South, engaged 
nearly all our officers in the conspiracy. It was then they defied our 
country, seized our forts, drove Anderson from Fort Moultrie to 
Sumter, and claimed Sumter. It was then that Mr. Cass resigned 
his seat as Secretary of State, because Mr. Buchanan would not 
defend his country from treason. It was then that Mr. Buchanan's 
cabinet was broken by traitors, and Mr. Holt, a war Democrat, was 
appointed Secretary of War. It was then that we all felt that our 
country was lost. The States had seceded while Mr. Lincoln was 
yet a powerless citizen of Illinois. The war, on the part of the 
rebels, was commenced, the country prostrate, and conspirators 
triumphant before Mr. Lincoln left Illinois. 

He left that State to redeem a country already lost. His approach 
to the capital was watched by the conspirators, and murderers at 
Baltimore were to assassinate him on his way. The capital was 
then to be seized, and a traitor inaugurated President; the Consti- 
tution to be so changed as to destroy our republic, and a slave empire 
to be erected. 

Through the mercy of God the conspirators were disappointed. 
Mr. Lincoln passed appointed assassins at Baltimore in a prior 
train, and the conspirators were confounded by finding him in 
Washington, while they were expecting news from Baltimore of his 
death. The small army near Washington was loyal, and through 
the energy of that incorruptible soldier, General Scott, Mr. Lincoln 
was inaugurated. The Capitol was redeemed, but Washington was 
still surrounded with enemies. The conspirators held the offices, and 
railroad communication was intercepted. Washington was cut off 
from railroad communication with any loyal State for seventeen 



192 STJMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

days. Armed conspirators murdered the United States soldiers as 
they came through Baltimore, and rebellion held sway. On the 13th 
of April fell Fort Sumter, and the people of the world considered 
the United States among the things of the past. English and French 
journals reviled her. The blood of Fort Sumter did, and was 
designed to, fire the Southern heart; but it did more. The booming 
of its cannon roused the hardy North ; the flash of its guns awoke 
Columbia's sons. The President called for seventy-five thousand 
men. Had he called for a million, they would have come ; but there 
was no way to officer these men, to arm or sustain seventy-five 
thousand men. The country had been spoiled, the arms stolen for 
traitors, the treasury exhausted by thieves, and the nation lay at 
the feet of the conspirators. But.it was a mighty nation, and its 
struggles shook the continent. The conspirators had laid their plans 
deep and well, therefore we have the greater reason for thankfulness 
to God that we were not lost. Thirty years they had concocted 
treason; thirty years cultivated hatred to the North; thirty years 
trained soldiers for the war. Every academy in the South was a 
military school. 

Their peculiar institution had grown them up a nation of idlers, 
whose pride was developed in sin. Slave labor supported and educated 
them ; politics, gambling, and horse-racing were their honorable occu- 
pations ; lynch law and violence, slavery and authority, were the gods 
they worshiped ; and when they saw that, through the blighting mil- 
dew of slavery, they were in the decline, when they noted the growing 
prosperity of the free States, they were exasperated beyond measure. 
Failing to find sufficient growth in Texas and Mexico, failing in 
creating revolution in Cuba, failing in planting slavery in Kansas, 
outnumbered by the swelling force of representation from free soil, 
they determined to do by usurpation what they had failed to do by 
politics. Through the Rights of the Golden Circle all persons hostile 
to liberty, or disaffected toward republican institutions, were united 
in the conspiracy. Leading politicians and ruffians were appointed to 
excite mobs, control public meetings, create public sentiment, intim- 
idate Union people, usurp State authority, and finally to carry their 
States out of the Union. They succeeded. Had Mr. Lincoln been 
slain at Baltimore, as per program, Jeff. Davis would have ruled in 
Washington, and the whole country would have been sacrificed on 
the altar of slavery. 

We conclude, therefore, that if war is ever right, war for our 
country is right ; if it is right to protect the people, then the war is 
right ; if it is right to defend our country, then the war is right ; if it 
is right to protect our families, then the war is right ; if it is right to 
put down rebellion, then the war is right ; if it is right to enforce law, 
then the war is right ; if it is right to fight for freedom, then the war is 
right ; if it is right to choose our President, and to sustain him, then 



FUNERAL ORATION FOR LINCOLN 193 

this war is right ; if it is right to fight for the poor, that the rich may 
not oppress them, then the war is right ; if it is right to resist bad men, 
conspirators, and traitors, then the war is right ; if it is right for ma- 
jorities to rule, then this war is right ; if any war is right, this one is. 
But if, on the other hand, we have no right to choose our officers; if 
only slaveholders must rule the world ; if it is our duty to imitate the 
negro slave, and submit to have the slave-drivers govern the world ; 
if liberty is wrong, the Declaration of Independence false, our Consti- 
tution a farce, and our Union but the accidental conglomeration of 
antagonistical States ; if we are not a nation, but only a mob ; if the 
States are superior to the nation, State legislatures to Congress, gov- 
ernors above the President, counties superior to States, towns to 
counties; in short, if liberty be wrong, if government be wrong, if 
law and order be" wrong, if treason be patriotism, slavery the normal 
condition of man, perjury a virtue, and murder mercy, then this war 
for our country may be wrong. 

But it is objected that Lincoln was a tyrant. His greatest fault 
was in his clemency. Had he been a tyrant, Vallandigham would 
have died on the gibbet, according to law, as a traitor. 

Mr. Lincoln has been accused of violating the Constitution in sus- 
pending the writ of habeas corpus. But in this the President did his 
duty — no more. He violated no constitution. The Constitution 
(Sec. 9) says: "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall 
not be suspended, unless in cases of rebellion, or invasion, the public 
safety may require it." President Lincoln did suspend the writ, 
according to the Constitution ; he suspended it in the case of rebel- 
lion, according to the Constitution ; he suspended it when the public 
safety required, according to the Constitution. 

It may be objected that the Constitution did not authorize Mr. 
Lincoln to suspend it. But the Constitution did authorize Mr. Lincoln 
to do it. To prove this, I proceed : 

1. The Constitution does not say who is to do it. 

2. But it does require the President to "preserve, protect, and 
defend the Constitution to the best of his ability " (Art.'IL, Sec. 1); 
"to take care that the laws be faithfully executed " (Art. II., Sec. 3 ). 
This includes the suspension of the writ, when necessary to defend 
the Constitution or execute the law, and Mr. Lincoln only obeyed the 
law and defended the Constitution. 

Some claim that Congress alone has the power to suspend the writ. 
But the Constitution does not say so ; rather it teaches the contrary, 
for Congress, not being in perpetual session, the rebellion would occur 
when Congress was not in session and could not act. But the Pres- 
ident being sworn to defend the Constitution and execute the laws, 
must, in such case, suspend the writ as his duty, or lie violates his 
constitutional obligation ; so that all the clamor of the rebels about 
Mr. Lincoln's violating the Constitution was a false alarm. 
la 



194 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

In case of rebellion, where whole communities are implicated, the 
writ of habeas corpus prevents all execution of the laws ; for sym- 
pathizing magistrates will by it release prisoners as fast as loyal 
officers can arrest them. That would compel the law to go unexe- 
cuted, the Constitution to be destroyed, and allow traitors to defy th& 
Government. But the power to release traitors must be removed. 
That is why General Jackson suspended the writ in New Orleans; 
this President Lincoln did, and the present and future generations 
do and will call him blessed for it. He defended the Constitution, 
but never broke it ; while they, by opposing him in his efforts to 
defend it, were aiding others in breaking it. 

Therefore, we conclude that it was not Mr. Lincoln who broke the 
Constitution, but those who opposed him; for if it were not for its 
suspension, by that writ any rebellious judge could take a rebel, or 
conspirator, out of the hands of the officer, and leave the country 
under the unresisted daggers of its murderers. 

No; Mr. Lincoln was the very opposite of a tyrant. His great 
fault was forbearance. Of all the traitors and conspirators arrested 
since this War commenced, of all those who have misrepresented and 
abused the Government, not one has died by the order of Mr. Lin- 
coln ; but many justly condemned to die for their many crimes have 
been pardoned and spared by him. 

The false cry about the suppression of free speech, etc., is sheer- 
hypocrisy. Those who cry it have denounced free speech for years. 
They shot Lovejoy in Illinois to suppress freedom of speech; they 
passed laws in Kansas to imprison men for freedom of speech ; they 
closed the schoolhouse at Fairbanks against Brother Heath to sup- 
press freedom of speech ; and they now denounce the Government, 
boast that they will resist the law, call the Government an infernal 
administration and the ^vorthy President prince of thieves, call 
Union soldiers invaders and our home soldiers robbers, hurrah for 
Jeff. Davis, and pull down the flag of the Union. 

III. The war for the Union has been successful. 

In defense of the Union this nation, in little over two years, created 
a navy which is the surprise of the world. It has taken yeomen, 
merchants, mechanics, and farmers, and with them created an army 
more powerful than the British Empire has ever marshaled for war. 
The noble navy has annihilated the navy of the enemy, comprising 
several of the most formidable vessels that ever floated. The noble 
army has reconquered more territory than is held by half the empires 
of Europe. It has taken forts without number on a coast of 3,000 
miles, many of which were considered impregnable. It has recon- 
quered the principal cities of the rebellious States. It has opened the 
Mississippi for nearly two thousand miles, though fortified to defy 
all assaulting power. It has driven the enemy from all their large 
rivers. It holds nearly all his seacoast, and surrounds him with 



THE WAR FOR THE UNION 195 

pickets for thousands of miles. It has taken from the enemy 
more prisoners, guns, small arms, forts, . vessels, ammunition, and 
stores, than were ever employed in any previous rebellion since the 
creation. 

During this time it has lost some battles, but the victories to the 
enemy have been fruitless — neither increasing his territory nor 
strengthening his position. It has successfully protected the free 
States from invasion and our cities from capture ; and notwithstand- 
ing a cruel and bloody war, with a most vigorous enemy, yet the 
general prosperity of the country has improved. Trade has increased, 
crops have been abundant, public credit has improved, and notwith- 
standing the rebellion had sympathy and encouragement from 
England in acts and arms, vessels and guns, and the munitions of 
war, yet it never was able to gain a victory which increased its ter- 
ritory or strengthened its arms, but was ever held firmly back. 

Let us consider the past four years as connected with Mr. Lincoln. 
The Rebellion has been checked, its principal forts taken, its principal 
city captured, its territory surrounded, its country cut in two, its 
States occupied, its invading armies driven back or destroyed, its 
generals captured, and its last strongholds threatened. Where now 
are forts Jackson, Pulaski, Henry, Donnelson, Hatteras, No. 10, 
Beaufort, McRea ? All are now adorned with the flag of the Union, 
while New Orleans and Natchez, Newbern and Nashville, Columbus 
and New Madrid, Springfield and Memphis, Portsmouth and Nor- 
folk, and whole States contested yet claimed by the rebels, — Mary- 
land, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, with much of Virginia, 
Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, North and South Carolina, — are now 
held by the brave men of the United States Army. 

In the beginning, Mr. Davis, instead of establishing his capital 
central to his revolted or dragooned territory, showed his aggressive 
hostility by moving his army north toward Washington, and by 
establishing his capital at Richmond, but a few miles from Washing- 
ton, and cutting off our capital from railroad communication with 
loyal States. But Maryland was soon forced to loyalty, and Mr. 
Lincoln took measures to save the country. The rebel army was 
soon swelled to six hundred and ten thousand men, but ours was 
seven hundred and thirty thousand men. Over two hundred victo- 
ries have crowned the national arms, and our country is saved. 

The first great shock, which went vibrating from ocean to moun- 
tain through all our land, was felt when Sumter fell, April 13, 1861 ; 
the second, Lincoln's assassination, April 14, 1865. With the fall 
of Sumter the country was roused to action. Four years rolled on, 
and the flag was again raised over Sumter; but that strong tower, 
Lincoln, fell and millions of strong men bowed with grief ; millions 
not used to weeping shed tears. A nation lamented ; the whole land 
is draped in mourning; a heart of love is stilled in death; a voice 



196 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

of kindness is silent forever; words of wisdom were hushed, to 
be heard no more; the prudent counselor is gone; Mr. Lincoln 
is dead. 

But the problem of human slavery has been solved, and another 
great name added to the list in the galaxy of glory. The ways of 
God, in divine providence, are far beyond the scrutiny of the most 
far-sighted statesman. Could we imagine a person sleeping through 
the past few years, how would the changes astonish him! Then 
slavery was the idol of America — the only thing sacred, North or 
South ; a huge, black Moloch, constantly devouring the most precious 
offerings ; a monster Juggernaut, crushing millions beneath its pon- 
derous wheels. Usurping the place of God, it held the pulpit under 
its control, governing the Balaams as Balak never could, and minis- 
ters worshiped at its bloody altars, with upturned eyes, piously 
pleading for slavery ! Four millions of human beings bowed beneath 
the lash, and none could see the end. 

Few even now realize the work which has been done ; the redemp- 
tion which has been wrought. Many suppose — some say — that 
Mr. Lincoln inaugurated and brought on the war; that his party 
divided the country in an attempt to tyrannize over the South. I 
invite your attention to a chronological view of events, effectually 
to correct this mistake, and to show how "man proposes, but God 
disposes " ; how Haman is ever doomed to hang on his own gallows ; 
how the measure we mete is ever measured to us again. 

In the ordinary course of the events of our country, the National 
Democratic Convention assembled at Charleston, South Carolina, 
April 23, 1860; and after being in session ten days, the Southern 
delegates seceded because the Northern delegates refused to put into 
the platform the right of slaveholders to carry slavery into the Ter- 
ritories without the people's consent. They reassembled, and again 
seceded at Baltimore, June 18, and being permanently divided, ran 
opposition candidates: In the North, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illi- 
nois; in the South, John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky; and the 
American Party, John Bell, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Douglas received, in the free States, 3 votes of New Jersey, 
and in the slave States, 9 votes of Missouri; in all, 12 electoral votes. 

Mr. Bell received the votes of Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky ; 
in all, 39 electoral votes. 

Mr. Breckenridge received the remaining votes of the Southern 
States ; in all, 72 electoral votes. 

Mr. Lincoln, of Illinois, received the votes of all the free States, 
except the 3 votes of New Jersey; in all, 180 electoral votes, and 
was thus elected by this overwhelming electoral majority. 

Mr. Lincoln was known to be a very moderate man, noted for a 
peaceful disposition, remarkable good nature, and kindness of spirit. 
The platform on which he was elected was strikingly pacific. It 



FUNERAL ORATION FOR LINCOLN 197 

decreed to preserve the Constitution, the Union, and the rights of 
States to control their own affairs ; denounced the John Brown Raid ; 
but decided that the Constitution does not carry slavery into the 
Territories, which was advocated by the Northern Democratic Party 
and Mr. Douglas. Mr. Lincoln's speeches were likewise very pacific. 

The election took place in November, 1860. As soon as the result 
was known, South Carolina, November 10, ordered a convention, to 
consider secession. This was over three months before Mr. Lincoln 
was President; and on the 17th of December the convention met. 
On the 20th it passed the " Ordinance of Secession," and the Union 
dissolved over two months before Mr. Lincoln was President. The 
reason given was that the people had elected a man "whose opinions 
and purposes were hostile to slavery." 

South Carolina seized the United States custom-house, post-office, 
and arsenal in Charleston, and Fort Moultrie. Thus South Carolina 
commenced the war over two months before Mr. Lincoln was Pres- 
ident. Mississippi seceded January 9 — about two months before 
Mr. Lincoln was President; Florida, January 10; Alabama, Jan- 
uary 11; Georgia, January 19; Louisiana, January 26; Texas, 
perhaps February 5. All these States immediately commenced the 
war by seizing United States property — arsenals, custom-houses, 
navy yards, ships, and forts. 

Mr. Floyd, the Secretary of War, had dispersed the United States 
Army of the South to the far distant borders, and ordered all the 
ammunition, cannon, muskets, etc., in his power (one order embrac- 
ing one hundred and fifteen thousand muskets) to the South, to be 
delivered to the rebels for use against the country, for Floyd was a 
traitor. 

Thus the country was divided. Seven of the largest States had 
divided the Union and commenced a war on the United States, seiz- 
ing all property, to the amount of millions, two months before 
Mr. Lincoln was President; and the existing President advised 
submission, and refused to attempt to resist. 

Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, December 18, introduced into Con- 
gress conciliatory resolutions, in effect, ( 1 ) to prohibit Congress from 
abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia as long as it existed 
in Maryland and Virginia; (2) to permit masters to take their 
slaves in and through free States ; ( 3 ) to pay for fugitive slaves, if 
rescued after arrest; (4) to request the repeal of personal liberty 
bills, — all to be engrafted in the Constitution, never to be changed. 
But no Southern man favorable to secession voted for the resolutions, 
as they considered the Union already divided. 

Texas seceded February 5, and issued State bonds to carry on the 
war to the amount of $500,000. 

Early in February, one month before Mr. Lincoln was President, 
General Twiggs, of Texas, delivered over to the rebels our army and 



198 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Government property— 13 forts, 15,000 stands of arms, 80 cannon, 
1,200 horses and mules, wagons, tents, ammunition, etc., 2,500 
soldiers, $55,000 specie, and munitions of war amounting to over 
$2,000, 000. Everywhere in the Gulf States where the United States 
force or property was found to seize or war upon the war by the 
South was going on. 

December 4, 1860, three months before Mr. Lincoln was President, 
General Cass, perhaps the only true man in the cabinet, resigned 
because no resistance was offered to armed rebellion, and, as said 
before, Mr. Thomas, a traitor, of Maryland, was appointed in his 
place. 

The border States were only waiting to go with the great Gulf 
States, with which they were all in sympathy. Virginia recom- 
mended a convention, to consider the present difficulty. This 
convention assembled in Washington, February 4, one month before 
Mr. Lincoln became President; but no delegate from the seven 
seceded States attended, as they considered the United States a 
foreign comitry. This convention lasted three weeks. It was while 
it was sitting that General Cass wished Major Anderson, in Fort 
Sumter or Moultrie, relieved by supplies. Mr. Floyd, Secretary of 
War, opposed it, and as the President sided with Mr. Floyd, the old 
patriot and hero of a purer age, Cass, resigned his seat. Mr. Floyd 
was now suspected not only of treason, but of robbery on a large 
scale, and resigned, and was soon after indicted by the grand jury 
of the District of Columbia for the abstraction of $870,000. He 
had served secession well, and fled to its bosom. 

December 29, commissioners from South Carolina came to Wash- 
ington to demand the surrender of Fort Sumter and other property ; 
but the property was not surrendered, and on January 5 the Star of 
the West was sent from New York, and on January 9 arrived at 
Charleston, with supplies for the. garrison and Major Anderson; 
but South Carolina batteries fired upon her, and compelled her to 
retire. This was still nearly two months before Mr. Lincoln was 
President. 

Jacob Thompson, Secretary of the Interior, and Mr. Thomas, Sec- 
retary of the Treasury, now resigned from the cabinet to enlist in the 
cause of treason, both because our Government attempted peaceably 
to send supplies to Major Anderson, thus proving that nearly all the 
cabinet and President were traitors, who had deliberately plundered 
and divided our country. 

February 4, one month before Mr. Lincoln was President, a con- 
vention of the seven seceded States adopted the name "Confederate 
States of America " ; also adopted a constitution, the corner-stone of 
which was slavery — a document made principally to declare slavery 
right, and to perpetuate it forever. Mr. Davis was elected President, 
and Mr. Stephens Vice-President, for six years. 



THE CIVIL WAR 199 

A Confederate army was organized, officered by old United States 
Army officers ; commissioners were sent to foreign countries — Eng- 
land, France, Russia, Belgium, and the United States, the United 
States being one of the foreign countries. Mr. Lincoln, on March 
5, the day after his inauguration, found the Confederate Commis- 
sioners in Washington representing the rebel government, the rebel 
army, and the rebel congress. 

The war now had been going on actively for months. If there was 
little fighting, it was because there was no protection for our coun- 
try's interests. Over $100,000,000 worth of property had been 
seized or surrendered, our flag fired upon, our vessels seized or driven 
off, our Government insulted and defied, when Mr. Lincoln, through 
the foresight and management of General Scott, escaped assassina- 
tion, arrived in Washington, and on the 4th of March took the oath 
of office to protect the Constitution, to defend and execute the laws. 
His words were very conciliatory. Said he, "I have no purpose, 
directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it 
exists," and he kindly invited all to return to their allegiance, and 
labor for the general good. He even appointed part of his cabinet 
from the slave States, and Bates and Blair represented the great sin 
interest of oppression. But he found no disposition to compromise, 
but threats of capturing Washington, of invading the North, of the 
danger of resistance, and of burning Philadelphia and New York. 

The South always had monopolized most of the offices, not only 
on the civil list, but in the army and navy, and these officers were 
resigning and enlisting in the cause of the Rebellion. While all 
oivil departments teemed with persons of doubtful loyalty, the whole 
country was demoralized, and public confidence was destroyed. 

On the 14th of April, after a dreadful bombardment, they cap- 
tured Fort Sumter and its famishing garrison. On the 1 8th Harper's 
Ferry was captured by them, and, with many, the prospect of saving 
our country was very dark. 

As yet, the United States had hardly struck a blow, even in self- 
defense. The North abounded with men, from the philanthropist of 
the East to the peace-sympathizer of the North and West, who 
opposed the Government's defending itself by arms. The heart of 
the nation almost ceased to beat. 

Mr. Lincoln had no choice as to his course. He was elected Pres- 
ident, sworn to defend the Constitution and execute the laws. He 
found his country lying in ruins, its chief senators and officers rejoic- 
ing over its destruction or flying from the scene, as the murderers of 
Csesar fled the senate two thousand years before. The whole shoddy 
aristocracy of our country were murdering the republic, to use its 
wealth to build up a great slave empire. The rebel States embraced 
the fairest portions of our land — the Sunny South ; at first a cluster 
of seven empire States, to which four were soon added, and two more 



200 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

were united in work and sympathy ; a cluster compact, together ; not 
like the North, strung out from Maine to California, nearly severed 
by Virginia and Canada, nearly severed east and west by a political 
gulf of prejudice ; eleven empire States, with our forts, and arsenals, 
and arms, and the sympathy of a great party all over the coun- 
try; with eight millions of people, and four millions of slaves for 
supplies, equal to eight millions more. If Mr. Lincoln looked east, 
philanthropists cried, "Peace!" If he looked west, politicians 
cried, "Peace!" If he looked south, gathering armies darkened 
the scene! 

He listened! A sound like the rumbling of distant thunder, low 
and deep ! It is the voice of the people : The Republic must be saved! 
Vox populi, vox Dei. The voice of the people was the voice of God. 
He obeyed the edict of fate and his country was saved. 

The glory of Mr. Lincoln's character was his greatness crowned 
with goodness. Mr. Lincoln was the best, the truest friend the South 
will ever find. The South had gone into a far country and spent its 
substance in riotous living. Many had perished ; many more were 
employed in ministering of their substance to the sanguinary usurper 
and tyrant, Jeff. Davis, while famishing for the husks which the 
swine did eat. When their imploring cry came up, Mr. Lincoln 
ran to meet them; he brought them in; the fatted calf was made 
ready ; he bade us all rejoice this day and give thanks to God. Thou- 
sands were fed, then they assassinated him; sacrificed their bene- 
factor — an acceptable offering to the sanguinary and vindictive god 
of oppression. 

Mr. Lincoln did not merely preserve his country, but he recon- 
quered it from its enemies. He overthrew a young, vigorous, haughty 
empire, equal to any of the second-rate empires of the world. He 
commenced a new line of Presidents, after the "Last of the Presi- 
dents" had gone down. By God's providence, his country was 
regenerated and born anew under his administration, and baptized 
in blood. She comes forth purged of her national sin. Providence 
chose the man for the occasion ; Providence preserved his life from 
assassination during the four years of his administration ; Providence 
allowed the great Democratic Party to divide, preparatory to its 
overthrow ; Providence allowed slavery to destroy itself in attempting 
to assassinate liberty. When the work was done, Satan was suffered 
to strike, and Lincoln fell, to be canonized as the "Great Liberator." 

Do we complain that it is not done better ? Remember, we long- 
feared it could not be done at all. Do we complain that it was not 
done sooner ? Remember, thousands, both in Europe and America, 
both North and South, thought it never could be done. Was Mr. 
Lincoln often too slow ? It is sufficient to know he won the race, 
which is not always to the swift. 

Success has crowned his efforts ; a crown of glory rests upon his 



FUNERAL ORATION FOR LINCOLN 201 

memory; four million slaves, now free, bless his name — enshrined 
in the hearts of God's poor. Great bodies move slowly. Had he 
moved to our mind, he might have stumbled, as Fremont stumbled ; 
or fallen, as McClellan fell; and our country have been lost, and 
slavery established forever. 

Do you point me to an inflated currency ? I point you to high 
prices — the jubilee of the poor. Do you point me to our maimed 
soldiers ? I point you to our honored flag. Do you point me to the 
waste of property ? I point you to a rebellion crushed. Do you 
point me to the. graves of our soldiers ? I point you to a country 
saved by their noble blood. Do you point me to our dead heroes ? 
I point you to a dead rebellion. Do you point me to our future taxa- 
tion ? I point you to our future prosperity. Do you point me to a 
desolated South ? I point you to slavery's foul stain purged from 
our national escutcheon. Do you point me to the suspension of the 
writ of habeas corpus f I point you to Yoorhees and Vallandigham 
alive. Do you point me to forts Monroe and Lafayette ? I point 
you to the assassination of our chief magistrate, and traitors yet at 
large. Do you point me to the great army ? I point you to a conti- 
nent saved and the world's noblest empire established — a great 
republic. 

Mr. Lincoln used power without abusing it — restraining the power 
instead of destroying the person, and restoring to liberty men who in 
France would have been beheaded, or in England quartered. Not a 
traitor was condemned by jury or court-martial but looked to Lincoln 
for mercy. All the unfortunate hoped in him. He was the soldier's 
protector, the widow's friend, the hope of the despairing. 

His administration has been a success. Mr. Lincoln came into 
office four years ago, when his country was a wreck ; he leaves her 
the greatest republic in the world. Then our navy was contemptible, 
and England the mistress of the ocean ; now our navy is the aston- 
ishment of all. Then our army was a cipher ■ now it is the greatest 
in the world. Then tyrants stooped to pity us; now they rise to 
honor us. Then Jeff. Davis threatened Washington ; now his capi- 
tal is in the jungles of Georgia. Then treason stalked defiantly in the 
Senate; now it is seeking the last ditch. Then the "chivalry" 
dominated in the Government ; now it slinks — a guerrilla, an assas- 
sin. Then it despised the negro as a brute; now it seeks him as a 
defender. Then the proud cities of the South hurled defiance at our 
flag ; now humbled, they beg to share the soldier's rations. Then we 
could hardly clothe five hundred soldiers ; now we can furnish for a 
million, and half of the families in the South share their cast-off 
clothing. Then the revolution was before us ; now it belongs to the 
history of the past. 

It is said that Lincoln was not educated, not a classical scholar. 
Neither was Homer, though the king of classics. That he bore no 



202 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

literary diploma. Neither did Shakespeare, the prince of literature. 
But he was a plebeian ! Was not Homer a slave ? He was a rail 
splitter, grocer, boatman. Was not Franklin a printer ? His lan- 
guage was plain. So was Bunyan's. 

The truth is, Mr. Lincoln was a great man, and rose, not above 
himself, but to his proper place. He rose from the lower walks of 
life, while his enemies, born in the lap of luxury, sunk Had Davis, 
Toombs, or Floyd commenced as rail splitters or boatmen, no doubt 
they would have died drunkards, in the alms-house, in State's prison, 
or have been drowned in the Mississippi; yet not fallen so far, so 
low, so base, so despised, as now. It were, indeed, a homeless, hungry 
dog that would follow them. 

True, Lincoln was a plain man, but his head was clear, his reason 
sound, his heart was honest, and his purpose pure. As a general, he 
was capable of guiding his officers ; as a statesman, more far-seeing 
than the politicians. His words were more simple, because he de- 
sired not ostentation; more plain, because his thoughts were clear. 
His policy was ingenuous, because anchored in good will. He was 
too earnest to be a fanatic, because he desired not only to be good, 
out to do good. Hence his words secured conviction, and his most 
subtle opponents retired humbled. The New York editors were best 
satisfied with short controversies, and all wondered how he made 
things so plain. To "put his foot down" was equal to Jackson's 
' ' By the Eternal ! " and on reading his replies, one is ever reminded 
of the Scripture concerning the Savior, "No man after that durst 
ask him any question." 

He was patient in goodness. His course waylaid, he complained 
not ; his life threatened, he feared not ; slandered, abused, and vili- 
fied, his good nature forsook him not. In the dark hours, his faith 
failed not. Kindly, nobly, firmly, fearlessly, he did his duty; and 
when his ruthless enemy sunk before him, to the lips so lately blatant 
with venom he pressed the cup of fraternal kindness, and poured 
into the ears of his fallen foes words of mercy and forbearance. 

The hand that struck Abraham Lincoln struck not so much the 
North, as the South. True, he conquered the South, but as a parent 
conquers an unruly child. Rather, he conquered the tyrannical 
rulers, the oppressors of the South ; he burst their chains of bondage 
and set them free. His kind heart constantly pleaded more for others 
than for himself. Brave and tried, he feared not. Two hours before 
he was shot, when in conversation with Mr. Colfax and Mr. Ashman, 
they expressed the uneasiness felt by the people that he exposed 
himself in Richmond. He said, ' 1 1 would have been alarmed if any 
other man had been President and gone there, but as for myself I did 
not experience any sense of personal danger." He ever cared for 
others. When Charleston was taken, he wrote to the commanding 
officer to inquire after the family of the late James L. Petigru, and 



FUNERAL ORATION FOR LINCOLN 203 

to provide them with whatever they might need, inclosing $50 him- 
self as a donation to the family. 

Mr. Lincoln's great soul lived not for the present, but for the future, 
making the history of the present such as he might wish it to be 
when his spirit, looking down, sees the historian weighing his action. 
The present age mourns his death, but future ages will enshrine his 
memory. He is gone, but the history he has made will remain; 
a nation has been born again, children of Father Abraham. He is 
gone. America trusted him, but he is gone. The soldier loved 
him, but he is gone. Accumulating thousands in the South hoped 
in him, but he is gone. Hoped in his kind word, trusted in his kind 
heart, looked to his kind eye, waited for his open hand. But sud- 
denly the eye pales in tears, the heart stills. Lincoln is dead ! 

The whole country is in mourning: business suspended, flags at 
half-mast — even Richmond felt the shock. From the gulf to the 
frozen north, from Maine to California, in the adjacent isles and 
British American cities, mourning is everywhere. 

Goodness cannot soften the hearts of some wicked men. Julius 
Caesar by all is considered to have been the most kind-hearted of the 
Romans. His most inveterate enemies were not only spared, but 
loaded with favors and entrusted with places of profit and honor ; 
but the worthless wretches whose lives his clemency spared butchered 
their benefactor. Washington was humane, as he was able ; yet the 
most malignant efforts were made to destroy the usefulness of that 
great and good man. 

With profound trust in the great Father of us all, and in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, I commend our country to his divine care, to the great 
Elohim. May his wisdom guide our rulers, his strength arm our 
defenders, his care shield our armies, his grace relieve our suffering, 
and his bounty reward our soldiers. 

We thank him for Abraham Lincoln; for preserving his life 
through the dark struggle of the past four years. We thank him for 
a government not thrown into anarchy by the death of its executive. 
We have reason to be thankful that, with all the power, no one has 
tried to usurp authority; that, though Mr. Lincoln fell, he fell not 
till "all the world learned to call him blessed.' 1 Never was death so 
lamented, and in Mr. Lincoln America has added another star to the 
world's constellation of great, good men. 

Mr. Lincoln has done more to honor and exalt America than any 
other man that ever lived. He safely and triumphantly conducted 
his country through the fiercest war that ever raged; he suffered 
without retaliation ; he succeeded in establishing a character of hon- 
esty in the most trying times ; he raised to manhood four million 
slaves. 

Dead! Dead! Dead! So late so full of life! so late a nation's 
hope ! The chief magistrate of our nation is dead ! The general-in- 



204 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

chief of all our armies is dead ! The President of the United States 
is dead! The prudent counselor, the great statesman, the compas- 
sionate magistrate, the bold defender, is dead! Dead, though late so 
full of life! His days of toil were just o'er, his weary task was 
almost done. Four years of struggle, strife, and war were o'er, and 
four years of peace were almost begun, when the defender, the trusty 
patriot, and reestablisher of our noble country, Washington's great 
republic, is struck down by the murderous hand of a rebel assassin. 

Mournfully interesting are the solemnities of this day to many 
million souls, and deep the feeling of sorrow pervading thousands of 
assemblies. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, is 
dead ! struck down in the midst of his work, in the climax of his 
usefulness, assassinated by a profligate traitor — one of many thou- 
sands whose life had been suffered through our country's clemency. 
The representative of those who have, as despots, ruled our country 
and betrayed her, has struck down the representative of the people 
who had saved her. 

The causes which led to the blind, brutal, and murderous act, are 
the same which divided our republic, brought on this cruel war, 
kindled the fires of hate in the Southern heart, led to the robbery 
and murder of our wounded, and to the cruel starvation and slaugh- 
ter of our' prisoners. That cause is the spirit of slavery, which 
creates a cruel disposition, a wicked, malicious heart, falsehood, and 
misrepresentation. Hence, Mr. Lincoln constantly has been misrep- 
resented by rebel papers and persons — called coarse and vulgar, the 
retailer of obscene anecdotes, the ignorant rail splitter, the Illinois 
baboon, while from time to time invitations have been given to 
murder him. This trained treasonable hearts for the great crime, 
and prepared traitors to regard as a justifiable act the murder of a 
great man. 

Were such representations of Mr. Lincoln true? No; the. very 
reverse ! A martyr to liberty, felled by the hand of a murderer ! 

Men, chief magistrates of nations, have fallen before, but few so 
faithful, so in the line of their duty, so lamented. Hipparchus, of 
Athens, had no title to the throne, Caesar was above the law, 
Charles I. a patrician, but Lincoln was the people's choice, elected 
by overwhelming vote, his only enemies the enemies of the republic. 
A vast nation mourns his death, the earth detests his murderer, and 
even his political opponents weep over his fall — the fall of the man 
most resembling George Washington of all the men who have filled 
the Presidential chair. 

During the latter part of his service as president of the college, he 
became deeply attached to his brother's son, Rev. Martyn Summerbell, 
D.D., who was a regular student, and while there entered on the minis- 
try. He was for a long time pastor of the church at Brooklyn, N. Y. 



CLOSE OF COLLEGE PRESIDENCY 205 

then of the first church at Fall River, Mass. Later he became pastor of 
the Free Baptist Church at Lewiston, Maine,, and a professor in their 
Cobb Divinity School there. He is now president of Starkey Seminary, 
the oldest school of the Christians. 

Rev. John Whitaker, D.D., the founder and president of Weaubleau 
College, was another student. He became one of the most prominent 
educators of Missouri. 

But there were too many under him, who -afterward became promi- 
nent, for us even to take space to name them with their positions. 

After serving as president of Union Christian College for five years, 
Summerbell resigned, and Rev. Thomas Holmes, D.D., was elected his 
successor. Summerbell had found the college a vision, and left it a 
reality. Its body of students had steadily grown in numbers and grade ; 
for the year 1864-1865 the number of students was one hundred and eighty- 
six. The faculty had been increased regularly in effectiveness, and the 
finances had been put into a sound condition, the college paying its 
expenses. 

The trustees conferred on him the degree of "Doctor of Divinity.' 5 

The following matter in the catalogue for 1865-1866 is the expression 
of exultation at his work,— the only thing he ever uttered on the subject, 
— and was abundantly justified by the facts, and demanded by the 
interests of the college : 

We commenced our work, firmly believing that, with the blessing of 
God, Union Christian College could be successfully conducted on Chris- 
tian principles, and experience has confirmed our impression. Colleges 
where rules are despised, skepticism cultivated, and immorality prac- 
ticed, are fountains of sin, sending forth graduates to poison the channels 
of virtue and sow the seeds of skepticism; whose education is an evil, 
and not a good. Amid trials of discipline and care, educational and 
financial struggles, Union Christian College has successfully carried out 
a first-class course of instruction — brought her classes up to a high 
standard of moral and intellectual discipline, reflecting credit upon the 
institution, and gladdening many parents' hearts ; yet Union Christian 
College has never had a law-suit, or expelled a student, and now closes 
her fifth year, with a body of students who command the respect of all 
who know them ; and with no pecuniary liabilities and a respectable 
fund in the treasury, her total assets being about $110,000, we may 
safely write down Union Christian College a success. 

N. Summerbell, President. 

From this field of sacrifice and labor he was called to take charge again 
of the church at Cincinnati, which had had no pastor for many years. 
The prosperity of the church had been destroyed by the management of 
a minister, who, though remarkably eloquent in the pulpit, lacked those 
qualities of faithfulness so essential to permanent success. Though of 
another denomination, the Christians, with their proverbial unselfish- 
ness, had chosen him pastor, and soon yielded to the demands of the 
stranger* for increased expenditures. The church borrowed large sums 
of money. The pastor proved to be an adventurer of impure purposes, 
and the church was wrecked, the congregation being scattered, the 
respect of the public lost, and services discontinued, except a sermon 



206 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

preached once in two months by some supply secured by L. D. Robinson, 
in order to prevent the sale of the property according to the terms of 
a certain loan made by Elisha Hathaway to the church. 

N. Summerbell took up the task of resurrecting the church with that 
faithfulness which was the characteristic of his life, and for eleven years 
served as pastor, the church gradually increasing in numbers and effect- 
iveness, though it was principally through the labors of its indomitable 
leader. 

In 1866 he published the following tract, entitled "Two Rules": 

THE TWO RULES : CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT. 

A REVIEW OF ABBE MARTINET'S WORK, ENTITLED 
"RELIGION IN SOCIETY." 

BY REV. N. SUMMERBELL, D.D., 

Pastor of Bible Chapel, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
[Dayton, Ohio: Western Christian Book Association.] 

I. "Religion in Society " is an able and well- written French work, 
by the Abbe Martinet, with an introduction to the American edition, 
by "Most Reverend John Hughes, D.D.," Archbishop of New 
York, and very extensively circulated in the United States and 
Canada, both among Catholics and Protestants, being designed as 
a work for proselyting Protestants to the Catholic Church. We 
desire, at once, to reply to and show the fallacy of the leading argu- 
ments in this book, and at the same time to elucidate and strengthen 
the ground occupied by the Christians, that the Bible is the only 
infallible rule of faith and practice for the true church of Christ. 

II. There are two antagonistic principles, or rules of faith in the 
church of the present day — Catholic as well as Protestant — as 
follows : 

1. The Bible is the only infallible rule of faith and practice — the 
only infallible guide in religion. 

2. The Bible is a rule, but not a sufficient or infallible rule ; but 
the Bible, with tradition, creeds, etc., with certain priests to interpret, 
is an infallible guide. 

The Catholic work above referred to states it thus : 

1. "The Bible only," Protestants answer. 

2. "The Bible, 1 ' Catholics ansioer, "and the divine word 
committed to the disciples, 'whether written or traditional,' and 
the ' body of teachers ( priests ) as the guardians and infallible 
interpreters of the divine word, whether written or traditional."' 
(Page 32.) 

III. These two religious principles or rules come in daily contact, 
and like Esau and Jacob, struggle for the mastery. The Christians 
are the leading advocates of the first, and the Roman Catholics of 
the second. But the Christian world is not evenly classed, many 



THE TWO RULES 207 

Protestants advocating the Catholic idea of traditions, creeds, etc., 
while others strongly incline to the Christian principle of the Bible- 
alone. These are the main principles on which the Christian world 
will divide, and hence we should be instructed in them. In the- 
present divided state of Protestants, the writer truly shows that it is 
rapidly undergoing disintegration, and wearing away by attrition. 
Luther's words, "There are almost as many creeds as heads: there 
is no simpleton who, if he happens to have a dream, does not believe 
himself visited of God, and become a prophet," are eminently true, 
to the shame of the church. 

IY. The writer, however, mistakes, when he accuses the Bible of 
these irregularities. Neither Catholics nor Protestants derive their 
sectarianism from the Bible, but from human philosophy, tradition, 
creeds, etc. All sects are founded upon the lateral angles of the 
Catholic triangular faith ; viz. , Tradition and priestly infallibility — 
capable of making a creed as good, aye, better than the Bible ! Many 
of them, like the Catholics, can not find perfection, even in the Bible ; 
but crucify it between the priest and tradition. 

V. These two main antagonistical principles come in daily con- 
tact. The Catholic is well-instructed in his argument against the- 
Bible, and it is the duty of the Christian to be prepared to meet him, 
for one or the other must conquer the world. 

We argue for the Bible first. Common sense would teach us that 
God would give us some plain, infallible rule, by which all who 
humbly seek, may know the truth. It is natural to suppose that 
God would not intrust this to uncertain, unwritten tradition, so 
easily corrupted, or to men, proved by all history to be fallible and 
changeable, to which priests form no exception. Even men in earthly 
governments do not trust to unwritten tradition, or to men to rule 
from age to age without some constitution, or written laws, as their 
guide. It is natural to suppose that in giving men a divine rule, God 
would have it recorded in writing. Thus we see he did under the old 
covenant, and thus we will find he has done in the new. By consid- 
ering the Bible rule, in the light of the strongest Roman Catholic 
objections, we will meet them in their greatest force. 

YI. The learned author says: "The Protestant principle finds 
nothing in it which does not condemn it — in the Bible, and in the 
history of apostolic time.' 1 We shall see. He speaks of the "worth- 
lessness of passages of Scripture cited in support of it." The diffi- 
culty: "Every Protestant must make a Bible for himself, must 
read the Bible in the original, assure himself of all its parts, and that 
he has read it all, etc., in order to be guided by it." (Pages 34-54.) 
But as the learned author only says these things, without deigning 
to prove them, and since they can more truthfully be said of his 
triangular rule, which would also be many times more difficult to 
authenticate, examine, and prove, we shall not reply farther than to 



208 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

state that, as the Catholic does not require more than simple faith in 
the church and obedience thereto, so the apostles, and after them 
the Christians generally only require faith in the Savior and obedience 
to him in order to salvation. 

As far as the difficulty of search is concerned, the Protestant has 
the easier task. For proof — the Protestant has only to defend the 
Bible, while the Catholic has first to sustain the priestly authority, 
and after examining the sacerdotal history and character, must fall 
back to prove his authority by tradition, and prove tradition by the 
Bible, and as a true and final foundation of all, he has to prove 
the Bible, else the whole superstructure falls. A child can detect the 
fallacy of the circularly repeating argument, that tradition is true, 
because the priest says so, the priest true, because the Bible says so, 
the Bible true, because tradition says so, and tradition true, because 
the priest says so, and so on, running an interminable circle, and 
leaving the Catholic with the whole of his religion unproved, and 
hanging in mid air, like Mohammed's fabled coffin. And such indeed 
is the want of proof which a Catholic finds of his religion — the Bible 
really saying nothing about it ; which is the real reason why he rejects 
the Bible as an infallible proof, since it first rejected his religion. 

VII. The great objection to the Bible, however, is in the limited 
number of copies, as it is now, and was much more in olden time, 
quite impossible to supply every man with a copy of his rule of faith. 
But why every Protestant must have a Bible, he does not tell us. 
Perhaps it is because he thinks it essential for every man to have to 
himself his rule of faith. If so, how will he supply every man with 
his three-fold rule of tradition, the Bible, and the priest? If he 
objects that many men can hear one priest, we reply, that so, also, 
many men can hear or read one Bible. 

VIII. The Catholic argument that Christ said, "The gates of 
hell shall not prevail against the church, and that he would be with 
us always,' ' etc., will not avail him, since there is no proof that this 
was said of the Roman Catholic Church — which was not yet founded 
— nor of the Roman Catholic priests, of whom there were none. 
Rome then reposed in the darkness of paganism — its pontiff never 
having heard of Christianity." 

Suppose the promise of the divine Master to have been made to 
the church at large, and of which the Roman was a part; yet, as 
that church has been divided into three nearly equal parts, viz., 
Greek, Roman, and Protestant, the Catholic must admit that at least 
the many pastors of the one or the other wing lost the infallibility. 
Could the thousands of priests in the Eastern church err ? Could the 
thousands in England, Scotland, Germany, etc., err? Then why not 
in Rome ? And how does he know but Christ's promise is fulfilled 
in the preservation of one of the other divisions instead of his ? It 
will not do to say they rejected the pope, since the promise was not 



CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT 209 

made to the pope — such a "father' 1 being unknown in the ancient 
apostolic church. The truth is, the infallibility of the Catholic 
Church is advocated in defiance of all facts. That church was organ- 
ized by Constantine the Great, in the fourth century. It soon 
became thoroughly Arian in faith, even its pope signing the Arian 
creed, so that it was said, "Athanasius against all the world, and 
all the world against Athanasius;" i. e., Athanasius was the only 
defender of the Athanasian Trinity. And afterwards the popes 
became so licentious as to be a scandal to the Christian religion. 
Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, said of them: "I have no 
doubt but that these bad popes are now suffering for their crimes in 
the penal fires of hell!" (See debate of Purcell and Campbell.) 
Where, then, was the infallibility ? The truth is, the Roman 
Catholic Church was founded by the Roman government, in the 
fourth century, and has grown up by constant additions, both to its 
doctrine and practice, as all readers of history know. 

It must be very evident to the thinking Catholic that in his three- 
fold rule, the Bible alone is the guide to truth. But he has Rome 
for authority, traditions for error, and the Scriptures for truth. 

IX. In farther objecting to the Bible, the learned author says, on 
page 34, "Show us the page in the New Testament, where Jesus 
Christ obliges, or even invites men to read the Holy Scriptures, and 
receive as divine the doctrine which each believes that he finds there. 
For three centuries the Protestants have ransacked the Bible, and 
this decisive page is yet to be found. " The sophistry of this priestly 
cunning is apparent. First, suppose God gave us his law, with no 
command to read it. Would it be any the less our duty or privilege 
to read it ? Do legislators command us to read their laws ? Are 
heirs commanded to read the will of the testator ? Does a father 
command his child to read the letter he sends ? The second sophistry 
is in the words, " doctrine which each believes he finds there" — as 
though some mortal error would be found there. No man really 
finds anything but truth in the Bible. The error is in himself. God 
only commands us to believe and obey his Word, and not deduce 
metaphysical doctrines from it. " Show us the page." "Search the 
Scriptures," said Jesus. (John 5 : 39.) Will that accommodate you, 
friend priest ? But how can your people show you the page, when 
you forbid their reading it? 

Again, said the learned author, l ' Does the gospel furnish us with 
any hints, which betray in Christ or his apostles the intention of 
writing and entrusting to a book the mission of converting the 
world?" I reply, "As far as Protestants claim it, we say, Yes." 
(John 20: 30, 31, and 21 : 25.) John says he wrote that we might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing 
we might have life through him. Here is writing to convert and 
save the world. " He no where orders them to write." How do you 

14 



210 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

know ? John 21 : 25, says, "If all were written that Jesus said and 
did, the world would not contain the books that would be written."' 
They wrote — wrote under the influence of the Spirit breathed upon 
them by Christ, "to bring to their remembrance all that he had 
said," etc. How do you know that they wrote without authority ? 
Deal gently, good sir. There is a day of reckoning when your 
priestly robes may not shield you from punishment for so boldly 
speaking against Christ and his holy apostles. 

The author says further (page 34), "Only six of them wrote any- 
thing." "Only six." Let us count. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 
Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. Just six, is it ? How old are vqu v 
Father Martinet? But you will say, "two of them were not 
apostles." But, first, you cannot prove that. And, second, it does 
not help your argument. Luke 1 : 1, 3, says many. The learned 
Catholic says, "only six." 

X. The next objection is as follows: "The impossibility of mul- 
tiplying, sufficiently, copies of the sacred book to render the reading 
of them common." Not so. The Catholic Church spends more 
money annually in costly trappings, adornments of altars, priestly 
robes, statuary, paintings, tall spires, and chiming bells, than, if 
better laid out, would supply every votary with the Bible. But it is 
not absolutely essential that each have a Bible. A testament, or 
even one book of the gospel, well studied, will impart more knowl- 
edge of salvation than many thousands of the masses of the Catholic- 
Church. Also, one gospel would serve whole families, or neighbor- 
hoods, or even parishes, if needful. But we thank God that the 
Bible can be supplied. The author proceeds: 

XL "It is well for Luther that he did not come into the world 
until a century after the immortal discovery of Guttenburg [print- 
ing]. A hundred years earlier his idea of directing two hundred and 
fifty millions of people to read the Bible would have been received 
with shouts of laughter, and would have inevitably caused his 
removal from the pulpit at Wittenburg to an hospital for the 
insane!" (Page 36.) By this we learn that intelligent priests 
would have joined in shouts of laughter, at any one directing the 
general reading of the Scriptures, one hundred years before the age 
of Luther. Let us now see at whom the priests would have directed 
"shouts of laughter," and whom the bishop's judgment would have 
condemned to the insane asylum. In John 5:39, Jesus said to the 
people, to all who can read it, to the end of the world, " Search the: 
Scriptures." This was more than an hundred years, yea, fourteen, 
hundred years before Luther. Over three thousand years ago — 
(Deut. 6: 6,) "These words , . . shall be in thine heart: and thou, 
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them," 
etc. Now, sir Abbe, and sir Archbishop, was the great "I Am* 
saluted with shouts of laughter, or judged worthy an insane hospital I 



THE TWO RULES 211 

Do you judge the divine Lord worthy of "laughter," or a strait 
jacket I Shame on your unscriptural spirit. The truth is, that the 
reading of the Scriptures was always a common thing with God's 
people, except when they were in captivity at Babylon or Rome. 
When the law was first given, we read, (Exodus 24: 7), Moses 
"took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the 
people." After they returned from captivity, (Neh. 8:1,) "All the 
people gathered themselves together," "and they spake unto Ezra the 
scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had 
commanded to Israel" (not the priests only) and he "brought the 
law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that 
could hear," and "read therein . . . from the morning until midday, 
. . . and the ears of all the people were attentive," etc., and "all 
the people wept, when they heard the words of the law." First 
psalm, David said, "Blessed is the man" whose "delight is in the 
law of the Lord." Jesus said, (Rev. 1,) "Blessed, is he that 
readeth," etc. 

XII. So Jesus himself was in the habit of reading to the people. 
The divine Lord (see Luke 4: 16) "As his custom was, went into 
the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And 
there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias." Acts 
8: 28, the eunuch, seated in his chariot alone, was reading the 
Scriptures. Jesus said, (Matt. 24: 15,) "Whoso readeth, let him 
understand." Luke 10: 26, "What is written in the law? how 
readest thou ? " In Col. 4:16, Paul, the great apostle, who must have 
known as much of Christianity as the Abbe or Archbishop, said : 
"When this epistle is read among you." I. Thes. 5: 27, "I charge 
you . . . that this epistle be read unto all the holy* brethren." 
II. Cor., 1: 13: "For we write none other things unto you, than 
what ye read''' Col. 4: 16, "When this epistle is read among you, 
cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans ; and that 
ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea." 

From these directions, two things are evident, viz. : First, that 
these apostles who directed this general reading of the Holy Scrip- 
tures were not Catholic priests, but that they desired all the people 
to know the Scriptures. And they had not, like the Archbishop, 
unnumbered mummeries, unknown to the Bible, but spake "None 
other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say 
should come." (Acts 26:22.) 

XIII. And the Scriptures were constantly read in public, as wit- 
nessed by the following passages: (Acts 13: 27,) "The prophets 
which are read every sabbath day." ( 15 : 21,) " Moses" "being read 
in the synagogues every sabbath day." (13: 14, 15,) "On the sab- 
bath day, . . . after the reading of the law and the prophets," 
4 l Paul, " ' ' and . . . said "— i. e. , preached unto them. ( 1 3 : 44, ) " The 
next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the 



212 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

word of God," and not to say "mass, 1 ' for there were no Roman 
Catholics there. 

XIV. Therefore we find among the people much, and a very com- 
mon knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which the Savior recognized, 
and appealed to, saying: (Matt. 12: 3,) "Have ye not read what 
David did ? " (19:4,)" Have ye not read, that he which made," etc. ? 
(21:16,) "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes" etc.? 
(22:31,) "Have ye not read that which was spoken?" (21:42,) 
"Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone," etc.? 

These few selections from the first book of the New Testament, 
show that the divine Savior considered the common people familiar 
with the reading of the Holy Scriptures. Nor did they receive such 
hints with "shouts of laughter," as would an audience of Catholic 
bishops, or consider him insane. John 2: 17, "And his disciples 
remembered that it was written." 12 : 16, " Then remembered they 
that these things were written." And if the priest would read, he 
might also remember. 

XV. The reading of the Scriptures was the privilege of all the 
people who thus understood, as said Paul, (Eph. 3: 3, 4,) "I wrote 
afore in a few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may under- 
stand." Thus they were taught, and the people (John 2: 22) 
"believed the scripture," being taught that they had this "more 
sure word of prophecy." PI. Peter, 1: 20, "That no prophecy of 
the scripture is of any private interpretation," but is (Pom. 16 : 26) 
"made known to all nations [without exciting laughter] for the 
obedience of faith." Therefore we learn that even children are able 
to understand, and adults are made perfect by the Word of God, as 
St. Paul said, (II. Tim. 3: 15-17) "From a child thou hast known 
the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor- 
rection, for instruction in righteousness : that the man of God may be 
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." What a glori- 
ous testimony to the Word of God ? Therefore, the holy apostles are 
not engaged in preaching masses, and holy w*ater, etc. But said St. 
Paul, "Preach the word." (II. Tim. 4:2.) And said St. Peter, 
(I. Peter 4: 11,) "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles 
of God." Isa. 8 : 20, ' ' To the law and to the testimony : if they speak 
not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." 

XVI. By these, we also learn that the Scriptures were written, 
not for the private interpretation of the priest, but for the people. 
Rom. 4: 23, 24, "It was not written for his sake alone, . . . but for 
us also." Rom. 15: 4, " For whatsoever things were written afore- 
time were written for our learning, that we through patience, and 
comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Eph. 3:4, 5, " Whereby, 
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of 



THE TWO RULES 213 

Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of 
men." Acts 17: 11, " These were more noble than those in Thessa- 
lonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, 
and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. 1 ' 

REMARKS. 

1. Is it not strange that a church in this day of light can be 
imposed upon by men so void of the knowledge of the Bible ? 

2. Is it not strange how readily a few passages of God's Word 
overthrow the arguments of the greatest priests of Rome? 

3. It appears evident that the people of God of olden time were 
constant readers of the divine Word. 

4. It is evident that they were not Catholics, nor their teachers 
Catholic Bishops. 

5. Would it not be well for all Protestants to drop whatever is 
not in the Bible from their religion, and unite on the Bible alone ? 

6. The Catholic Bible does not read materially different from the 
Protestant in the above quotations. 

When Dr. Summerbell resigned the pastorate of the Cincinnati church 
years afterward ( that is, in 1874), to take charge of the church at Con- 
neaut, Ohio, he was, as to service, the senior pastor in the city, and 
known by all as one of its ablest and most fearless ministers. 

He had attracted wide attention, and was fully awake to the subjects 
agitating the masses. On February 23, 1866, he delivered the address 
on the " Eight-Hour Question," of which the press spoke as follows : 

Greenwood Hall was crowded to suffocation last night. Rev. K". 
Summerbell delivered an address, a copy of which was requested for 
publication. It was an eloquent plea in behalf of the working-man, and 
was warmly applauded. — National Union. 

We never saw a larger audience in Greenwood Hall. Rev. N. Sum- 
merbell was the first speaker. He read from manuscript a highly 
rhetorical and eloquent discourse. — Cincinnati Gazette. 

Greenwood Hall was crowded to suffocation last night. Rev. N. Sum- 
merbell made a very eloquent speech, which was frequently interrupted 
by loud applause. — Cincinnati Enquirer. 

One of the largest and most enthusiastic meetings of the working-men 
was held last night at Greenwood Hall, in advocacy and support of the 
eight-hour labor question. 

The meeting was organized by calling Mr. L. McIIugh to the chair. 
Mr. Thomas Leonard was chosen secretary, and a number of vice-presi- 
dents were appointed. Messrs. T. J. White, Robert Pye, and John Dohan 
were appointed a committee to report resolutions. 

Spirited addresses were delivered by Rev. N. Summerbell, Hon. Fred. 
Oberkline, and General Banning, of Mt. Vernon, Knox County, the 
author of the eight-hour bill now before the legislature, after which 
Sergeant Haller took the stand and made a stirring speech. — Cincinnati 
Times. 



214 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

THE EIGHT- HOUR QUESTION. 

Mr. President and Working-men of Cincinnati : I am happy in 
the opportunity of addressing you on the subject of labor. Man was 
created a laboring being. This is his normal condition. Idleness is 
the sin, nay, more, it is the blunder of life ; as contrary to our nature 
as to our duty to God and man. Thus we read : "There was not a 
man to till the ground ". ( Genesis 2:5); and the Lord God formed 
man and said, ' ' Replenish the earth, and subdue it " ( Genesis 1:28); 
and God "put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep 
it" (Genesis 2: 15). And the command is, "Six days shalt thou 
labor." (Exodus 20: 5.) Therefore he who spends the six days 
in idleness violates the command equally with him who works upon 
the sabbath, and is in no condition to cast stones at his neighbor. 
Idleness is the stagnant pool where humanity ferments, sending 
forth a moral miasma, poisoning the very fountain of life. It is the 
gulf of sin, the empire of Satan ; it is heresy in religion, and every- 
where rebellion against God. 

Labor gives needed exercise and health for body and mind. It 
generates thought and expands the soul, and is equally conducive to 
virtue and religion. Out of labor come forth needed blessings. 
Labor clears the forest, and plants the fruitful garden in the desert 
wild. Labor builds our cities, and covers the sea with ships. Labor is 
the deep granite foundation of civilization and religion, on which the 
wise man ever builds his house ; the great conservator of science and 
true foundation of learning. Annihilate the workshop, laboratory, and 
factory, and you blot out the archives of civilization. The knowl- 
edge perpetuated in the labor of life eclipses the wisdom of the classic 
halls. Therefore, the blow aimed at the laboring man is stricken at 
the world's civilization. Labor brings everything to perfection. 
The primitive earth six thousand years ago was without form and 
void — worthless was the dark and shapeless mass. It needed labor. 
Lifted to its place by the power Omnipotent, swung in the foundry 
of the great Creator's workshop, it was simply "raw material in 
the shop " before the morning light of that first great working day. 
Silently came the Spirit of God, moving near the shapeless mass, 
"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." 

Then commenced the formation of the earth, by the great Archi- 
tect of worlds. The rugged mass is changed and ornamented; the 
beautiful world, with blooming field and blazing sun, appears. The 
earth, and sea, and sky, all teem with life. Birds of the air, with 
warbling song, surpass the garden flowers, and man in paradise 
appears, image of Him, the great Eternal One — made little less than 
God;* but, oh, how much abused! f 

'•Hebrews 2:7: "A little lower than the angels." Psalm 8:5: "Lower than 
the angels." The original Hebrew, Elohim ( God) ; namely, less than God. 
f James 3: 9. 



THE EIGHT-HOUR QUESTION 215 

The six days are ended, and man, image of the great Creator, 
starts on his subordinate mission ; but, oh, what labor is before him. 
Houseless and homeless were our ancestors ; hatless and shoeless was 
this King of all the earth. But he was of good family ; as we read, 
14 Which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God." (Luke 
3: 38.) 

And the great Father gave the newly married couple a great 
44 outfit.' ' A large farm was the new world. What think you it 
needed ? Was it some fine ladies and gentlemen, despising work ? 
Would Adam advertise for a coachman, and Eve for a housekeeper ? 
No! Adam was a laboring man, who, by the sweat of his face, was 
to gain his bread, and there began the labor of life. Man first sought 
shelter beneath the friendly tree, then built a booth,* long before the 
bethel (house of God), the massy castle, or magnificent temple 
arose. Look at him again : wearied he sinks down to rest, and then 
employs his mind. A moment later he has mastered the noble horse, 
then seizes the descending stream to grind his corn, and harnesses 
the angry waves to assist him in his work.. At first he swims the 
.stream, then builds his raft, and next the bark canoe, till by and by, 
by labor's steady, persevering power, the mighty ship appears, and 
the steam engine. First, the winds are harnessed to his sails, and 
next the iron horse, well-fed on fire, drives the immense palaces over 
the seas, or with lightning speed drags over the earth long rows of 
house-like coaches, as though a city moved at once. Man learns to 
obey the great example set at first, and by labor subdues the earth. 
The mortar and pestle to grind his corn give place to the mill, the 
horse of life gives place to one of iron, and the errand boy to the 
swift lightning. But it was a world of toil by which the great book 
of human progress was written, and the pen was labor. How many 
backs were bent, how many arms have ached, before the lever or the 
screw appeared; before the simplest tools, much more the vast 
machinery of modern times. The progress of our race was in the 
toil of the laboring man. The sweat of his face marks every step 
back along the pathway of six thousand years. And to-night we 
meet to ask : Is it safe for the laboring man to be permitted to say, 
not how many hours he may or how many hours he can work, but 
how many hours in the twenty-four he must dispose of, whether he 
will or not, or whether he is able or not ? how many hours he shall 
be compelled to dispose of in the world's market for a legal day's 
work ? how many hours his bones and muscles can endure, or whether 
he has any rights in the matter ? 

Labor ! Labor is the wealth of the world ! How many learn, in 
despising labor, to despise the laboring man ? 

Working-men of Cincinnati, I desire to speak for your good, and 

*The second letter in the Hebrew alphabet is betK f rom which we have "bethel," 
and signifies "a house." It is a hieroglyphic in the form ^ of a shed. 



216 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

will freely state that the "Eight Hour Reform" is one on which 
honest men may differ; therefore, I will submit my arguments in 
modesty. Labor, though honorable in itself, becomes an evil to the 
laboring man Avhen he is reduced to slavish toil — the common lot of 
the laboring man. This is done by too great an extension of the 
hours. 

1. I contend that eight hours, hard labor, is sufficient for a day 
for those who must labor every day through life. Is it not ? 

2. I contend that men will do nearly as much work in eight hours 
for the day as they will in ten. The system gives way when kept 
upon the rack ten hours. 

3. I contend that eight hours of hard toil is a large proportion of 
the labor of life for one man. 

4. I contend that ten hours is more than is, or can be, uniformly 
made during the short days of winter, or should be, during the sultry 
days of summer. 

Yet I would leave all free, so that during the spring and winter 
months, or at in-door employment, a mechanic may make twelve or 
even sixteen hours, if he desires ; yet we contend for the eight hours, 
that all may not be compelled to labor more. 

Nor do I contend for the same wages for eight hours as for sixteen. 
Both the number of hours and the price of labor will be regulated by 
the demand. We cannot bind the future ; we only wish to lessen the 
weight by law, so as to leave men free. If eight hours make a day's 
work, then men may hire more hours at whatever price labor will 
demand ; but while the law demands ten, men cannot find employ- 
ment for less, however unable they may be to perform it. 

Yet we must carefully guard against harsh judgment toward 
employers. We argue not against them. It is no crime to be an 
employer; no crime to be wealthy. God blessed Abraham in riches 
as well as Lazarus in poverty, and heard the prayers of Cornelius, 
the "just man," as well as Zaccheus, the publican. 

Nor must we envy the capitalist. Capital is absolutely essential to 
the prosperity of any people, especially the working classes. Take 
capital away, and we would have builders with no houses to build, 
ship carpenters with no vessels on the stocks, mechanics with no 
shops, and operatives with no factories. 

Besides, you are yourselves seeking affluence, and by cultivating 
prejudice against capitalists you are injuring your future selves. 
Rather, let us rejoice in every man's prosperity, as we desire pros- 
perity for ourselves and for our children. 

The worst feature of the French Revolution was hatred to the rich. 
Never imitate those revolutionists. You are yourselves nearly related 
to the highest. There is no impassible gulf in the way of your prog- 
ress—nothing but your own inertness, want of capacity, or activity. 
Franklin stepped from the press to the council; Burritt from the 



THE RIGHTS OF LABOR 217 

forge to the editorial sanctum. Be philosophers ! Imitate Franklin ! 
Let each mechanic endeavor to honor his calling and command the 
respect of his fellow-citizens. Be an example to the rising appren- 
tices worthy of imitation. Encourage them by studying to simplify 
their labors by science — lessening the amount, perfecting the form, 
and increasing the result, so as to render human efforts more 
effectual. Do not despise your calling. Jesus, the divine "Son of 
God," stooped from heaven to a workshop. "Is not this the carpen- 
ter ? " they asked. ( Mark 6 : 3.) 

Editors, deal gently with 'this subject. Do not bend the mighty 
power of the press against the laboring man. I have been warned 
for the part which I have taken in this cause. It is said that minis- 
ters should preach the gospel and let reforms alone. Poorly do such 
persons understand the gospel. I would be a follower of Him who 
preached the gospel to the poor. (Luke 4: 18; Acts 10: 38.) Yet 
if it be a crime, I plead guilty. I am the first minister in the city to 
lecture in its favor, and ' ' I propose to fight it out on this line if it 
takes me the whole summer. " I regard this as the great reformation 
of the nineteenth century — liable to abuses, but none commensurate 
with its benefits. Steam and machinery have destroyed many lives, 
yet these are not to be repudiated, but the ignorance and sin in their 
bad construction and management. 

5. Again, I contend that the long day's work is wrong in that it 
is opposed to true sanitary regulations in compelling operatives to 
live in crowded tenements insufficiently ventilated and unwholesome, 
in order to be near the shops. 

6. I contend that we thus encourage extortion in rents, thus mak- 
ing living more expensive as well as death inevitably more early. Is 
this right ? 

7. I contend that thus the city is injured, and its prosperity 
blasted on this false plea of protecting capital ; while this reform will 
enable mechanics to reach suburban residences, with large yards and 
gardens, conducive to health, economy of living, and the beauty, 
growth, and prosperity of the city. These reasons are important, 
and not to be waived for slight consideration. 

OBJECTIONS. 

But it is urged : 

1. "That a sudden change will injure the city, as capitalists will 
be unable to contend against the competition of States where the 
system may not be ad opted." I reply that no such sudden change is 
desired, as it would operate unfavorably for the working-man as truly 
as for the employer. 

2. "Labor is the wealth of the world; if we diminish labor, we 
diminish the world's wealth." I reply that this is a true statement 
and a logical conclusion. We admit its force, but the thunderbolt 



218 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

passes us without harm, for we would not so much diminish the 
amount of labor, as rightly distribute it and change its form. I con- 
tend that labor is the mechanic's stock, — his capital and merchandise 
in the world's market,— and I want him to have the right to say how 
much of this stock he can afford to dispose of in a certain way. 
Remember, the question is not, " How many hours may he work ? " 
but "How many hours must he work ? " That is, How much of his 
time must he be compelled to bring to the world's market daily, or 
not appear there at all ? This, I contend, should be low enough to 
enable, not only the majority, but those who are disadvantageously 
situated, to comply with the requirements of the law without being 
oppressed, when the strong and those desiring to secure greater 
returns can, as per contract or mutual agreement, work more hours 
— ten, twelve, or sixteen, if they are able and the demand requires it. 
The triangular division of eight hours for work, eight for sleep, 
and eight for the cultivation of the mind, is a pretty harmony of 
words, but man has other calls and cares than these. The time of an 
ox or horse may be thus divided — eight hours for work, eight for food, 
and eight for repose; but not so with man. Ten thousand duties 
call his attention : domestic duties, and domestic cares ; the wants of 
the poor, and the wants of the soul ; the demands of the body, and 
the demands of the mind. Ten hours for work, eight for sleep, three 
for meals, and going to and returning from work ; two for ablution, 
dressing, the toilet, and similar duties, and one for devotion in private 
or family worship, or at church, leaves none for daily reading, study, 
charity, and the ten thousand duties of life. No, friends ; we would 
not diminish labor, — the wealth of the world, — nor would we kill 
the goose that lays the golden egg. 

3. "Most men of fortune procured it by working from twelve to 
sixteen hours," etc. We reply, This is true and to their credit, and 
so' it will ever be. But all cannot amass fortune, or endure this 
excessive tension. To those who can, we offer no hindrance. We 
love industry and deprecate idleness. The loafer is but a step from 
the criminal, and in idleness he totters to that step, forced to it as 
he falls. 

4. To the objection that ' ' men cannot do a day's work in eight 
hours," we reply that this simply depends upon whether eight hours' 
labor constitutes a day's work. 

5. To the objection that "we cannot afford to pay," etc., I reply 
that the demand will regulate the "afford," it being as easy to pay 
high prices when there is a great demand, as low prices when times 
are dull. We also believe that nearly as much can be done in eight 
hours as is now done in ten, ten hours being too long a time to con- 
tinue the strain of muscle in hard toil. 

6. That "it will do no good to shorten the hours, as it will only 
give more time for the saloon and vice." I reply that I fear that m 



THE EIGHT-HOUR QUESTION 219 

many cases this will be too true; but this gives us no right to deprive 
all of the blessing, lest some should abuse it. Our great Father did 
not deprive us of hands, lest we should steal; nor of tongues, lest 
we should blaspheme; nor of liberty, lest we should do wrong, it 
being better that some should do evil than that all should be deprived 
of the power of doing good. But there is a self -constituted aristoc- 
racy, which can never see "why the poor cannot work more hours ? 
why they must pay them more wages ? what they want with so 
much money ? or why they spend so much ? " And they shudder at 
the thought of rugged vice, but move deliciously in the refined halls 
of sin. They spend their pounds where labor spends its pence; 
spend, not odd hours, but years, in idleness; hang modest drapery 
round voluptuous hearts, tingeing with modest hues the brazen cheeks 
of sin, gilding crime over with gold's rich patronage, and crowning vice 
with virtue's diadem. They feign the virtues which they never knew, 
and agonize o'er others' fancied errors all their own. Their very 
wealth the widow's right, obtained by wrong and fraud, or the fruit of 
orphans' toil. More work ! More work ! The world demands more 
work! But why must the producers of the world's wealth be the 
world's poor ? driven to toil and begrudged rest ? Our courts drag 
slowly along ; why not increase their hours ? Why must the appren- 
tice seek his shop by the dawning light of the morning stars, and the 
student his office at nine o'clock ? Why must those who work harder, 
work not only for less pay but also more hours ? 

The calling of the apprentice is as honorable as that of the profes- 
sional student, and the surest hope of Cincinnati is in her manufac- 
tories. Rome was never poorer than when her poor withdrew, and 
left all rich in Rome. The down-trodden laborers of England to-day 
are the basis of all her pride and power. Their weary limbs procure 
her squandered wealth. In rags and hunger, they weave her princely 
robes. Yet the laboring classes have no rights which aristocracy 
feels bound to respect. No part of our community attracts less 
notice, and none is worthy of more, than the honest apprentice, re- 
solving, by a life of industry, to be self-sustaining as he winds his 
weary way up the hill of science, weaving his own life into the web 
of civilization almost unnoticed and unknown. Often during the 
winter months, roused from his sleep, perhaps by a widowed mother, 
long before day, he takes his scanty meal and hurries out, facing the 
chilling blasts of early morn — shivering to the shop. Every day 
from daylight to dark ; every day and every week, from daylight to 
dark. He ends the toiling day with a rugged meal, and with no time 
to wash and dress, tired and discouraged, he sinks to rest, to sleep, 
to dream of to-morrow's toil — daylight to dark. Too weary to 
study, he can only toil on, his whole life covered by a broad, dark 
cloud, shutting out the sunshine that belongs to all. Two hours a 
•day would unloose the iron grasp, and give him opportunity to 



220 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

improve his mind and prepare for greater usefulness. Were appren- 
tices allowed time to study, they would soon advance in science, in 
useful inventions and improvements in machinery, and in new prin- 
ciples.* Printers more frequently than other mechanics rise to high 
places, simply because of more favorable opportunities. Open the 
way to our apprentices, and thousands will rise to the highest throne 
of scientific attainment — men of more vigorous thought, because of 
more healthy bodies than the enervated students, pale and dyspeptic, 
which come from the lap of luxury. How often, even now, does the 
innate genius rise from the humblest calling, to scatter intellectual 
light to the most distant part of a benighted world. Joseph and 
David were but shepherd boys, Homer a slave, and Paul a tent-maker. 
Socrates was long a private soldier ; afterwards, barefooted, he marked 
the path of wisdom. George Stephenson, the working-man, was the 
successful inventor of the locomotive; Inigo Jones, the carpenter, 
was England's great architect; Kitto, the renowned Bible commen- 
tator, was a shoemaker; the world-renowned Ben Johnson was a 
barber ; Sir Richard Arkwright and Jeremy Taylor were laborers ; 
while Elihu Burritt, who speaks twelve languages and reads near 
forty, now editor, philanthropist, and philosopher, acquired most of 
his knowledge while working as a common blacksmith ; and Frank- 
lin, the runaway apprentice, yet shines as one of the greatest moral 
and natural philosophers, philanthropists, and statesmen, ever adding 
fresh luster to liberty's fair diadem. 

For the Franklins and Burritts yet apprentices we want better 
opportunities. Apprentices should study books as well as machin- 
ery. Mathematics and science — natural philosophy, algebra, and 
geometry — are as essential to the mechanical arts as to the profes- 
sions. The student "consumes the midnight oil," but the apprentice 
studies by the firelight — a pine knot in the country, or coal grate in 
the city ; studies without a master, and the workshop turns over her 
men, some to adorn the bar, and some to add new luster to the pulpit ; 
some to infuse new energy into the Senate, and some to guide the 
ship of state; adorning alike the tranquilizing fields of philosophy 
and the glittering paths of science. Why then should they be 
stretched upon the rack of labor, or broken upon the wheel of over- 
tasked periodical toil, without time for improvement ? Learning is 
required everywhere. Every laborer in the earth should be a geolo- 
gist, every farmer a chemist, every gardener a botanist, and every 
architect should understand geometry. Who more than the practical 

-Two hours a day would enable an apprentice to master an ordinary study every 
three months, or at least three during the year. Supposing him blessed with the 
common education of young lads, he could perfect quarterly, first, arithmetic, then 
grammar, and so on, in their turn, history, geography, algebra, geometry, geology, 
familiar science, and natural, mental, and moral philosophy, and even higher 
branches, and thus be enabled to adorn his calling, or compete for the prize of 
honor with more favored students. 



OPPRESSION OF THE POOR 221 

builder should understand "that the square described on the hypot- 
enuse, or longest side, of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum 
of the squares of both the other sides," and so be enabled to deter- 
mine the required length of a rafter, a ladder, or the height of a 
mountain ? The steps in mathematics are plain and easy, rising in 
mystic power from principles self-evident on the plane of every -day 
life up to the charmed mountains of celestial beauty ; and none more 
than the apprentice and mechanic would delight, not only in follow- 
ing the greatest masters, but in opening the way to new mines of 
useful truth had they but the opportunity. Every apprentice toils 
on ; not up, but at the hill of science, long enough, and hard enough, 
with mind enough, and soul enough, to reach the highest goal. But 
he needs assistance to find the nearest road ; a friendly hand to guide 
the way and opportunity to investigate. But he finds no friend at 
court ; labor is despised, and with it, too often, the laboring man. 

We search the olden codes in vain for laws designed to benefit the 
poor.* The boasted legislators of Greece knew them not, though the 
Helenist's chisel is equal to his pen, and monuments, — Doric and 
Corinthian, — worked in granite columns, equal in immortality the 
sentences of Plato or Pythagoras. 

The "twelve tables" of Roman laws recognize no rights of the 
poor, and Rome's baseness never appeared more perfidious than when 
she called them from their chosen hill to deceive them with false 
promises. 

The boasted ' ■ Magna Charta " of England only secured the baron's 
rights ; not the rights of the laboring men. If farmer's implements 
were secured, it was only to benefit the lordly baron. Poor men 
continued to be sold at the fairs, often for less than the price of a 
horse ; and while a contemptible fine was the penalty for killing a 
man, death was the penalty for killing a hare in a gentleman's park. 
No word ever caused such terror in an English court as the simple 
sentence of her rising poor: "If we work for these gentlemen, we 
demand that they do pay us wages." 

And the blackest treachery of an English king was when the 
monarch, after promising the renowned ' ' Wat Tyler " ( Walter the 
Tyler) the people's freedom, and employing thirty clerks to write 
certificates of the same, yet, after murdering their leader, and break- 
ing up the army by fair promises, unfairly broke the royal word. 
Aristocracy never did hold faith with the children of toil. A noted 
change in the condition of English mechanics dates from the organ- 
ization of the "Free Mason's Lodge "t in the days of Henry III., in 
the thirteenth century. This order was composed in that day of 
real artizans and practical mechanics, who, in a well-governed society, 

-The laws of the Israelites are a fine exception, as all other precepts of the 
Bible. See Deuteronomy and other sacred books of the Jews. 
x Goodriches History of England, page 22. 



222 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

traveled from place to place wherever great buildings or temples 
were to be erected, and by their skill and independence gave a dignity 
and character to the craft, far eclipsing the influence of many of the 
idlers of the present day who, ignorant of any useful calling, glory 
in legends of Hiram. Labor is truly the wealth of the world. Gold 
is used in exchange to show that the holder is entitled to so much 
labor, or labor's product — product of sea or land, of field or farm, of 
shop or loom. With enough of labor and labor's product to supply 
our wants, money would be as useless as the leaves of autumn. 

Despise not labor ; trample not upon the rights of the laboring man. 
''Six days shalt thou labor," is a divine command, and God set the 
great example. He placed the earth upon the wheel, and molded it 
into form in the vast machinery. Immense furnaces melted the 
yielding rock, and poured it out in overlying strata, cooling deep 
and firm. Coal beds were formed; great earthquakes plowed the 
mass, heaving up mountains and furrowing deep valleys. He planted 
the garden and sowed the fertile fields. God was at work in his own 
vast factory, and sun, and moon, and stars, leaped to the vaulted 
sky at the Creator's bidding, and, as they whirled along, threw from 
their burning wheels the blazing day. Next, things of life appeared 
in every varied form, — bird, fish, and brute, — supplying with living 
things earth, sea, and air. Again T hear the Voice divine, as when 
at first he said, " Let there be light." So now again, ' l Let us make 
man in our image," likeness divine. Thus spake God to his Son. 
(Hebrews 1: 1-3; I. Corinthians 15: 24-28.) One man, one pair — 
the crowning work of the great creation. The work is done, and 
silence reigns as when the earth, a shapeless mass, floated at first in 
its primeval darkness; but in God's image man appears, a lesser 
creator, 

"Foremost of created things, 

Head of all thy works he stood; 
Nearest the great King of kings, 
And little less than God." 

I listen again, and hear the voice of the great Creator's children. 
The woodman's ax, the driving plane, the anvil's ring, the buzzing 
wheel, the whirl of swift machinery, the furnace, and the forge. 
The world has become a vast workshop. Mines are sunk, mountains 
are leveled, and rivers are turned; forests are manufactured into 
furniture, ore melted, and all the raw material of earth is passed 
through the new workshops and molded into form for the use of 
man. And now a new creation springs to view. " God made the 
country, but man made the town." 

Cities arise, temples and palaces appear, ships ride the ocean, men 
with lightnings play, rivers turn the wheels of vast machinery, fire 
and water drive the iron horse, rocks melt, iron molds, nature 



DEBATES 223 

blooms with new organized life, harvests blossom at the touch of 
man, — a new creation rejoices under the plastic hand of God's image 
in humanity, the mechanic and the working-man. The laboring man 
stands the true representative of the great Creator. May he never 
forget his noble calling, or disgrace it by unworthy works. Oppress 
not the laboring man, but measure his hours by winter's shortest days. 

In June, 1866, he held a debate with Rev. Dudley Downs, of the 
Disciples, at the Union Christian church near Clinton, Illinois. Sum- 
merbell contended that the kingdom was set up and the gospel preached 
before Pentecost. Downs denied. Downs contended that baptism was 
indispensable to pardon. Summerbell denied. During the discussion 
Mr. Downs conceded the following points : 

We should pray before baptism. 

We should not " seek " or " feel " after God in the water. 

We cannot call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. 

Women should speak in church. 

God may save persons without baptism; and other points. 

On account of the failure of the reporter to transcribe his notes for the 
book intended by Summerbell, a second debate was held between these 
speakers in Clinton, Illinois, on October 23, 24, 25, and 26, 1866. The 
subject of this discussion was " On the Establishment of the Kingdom of 
Christ and the Design of Baptism." But again the reporter failed, and 
the debate was never published. 

It should be remembered that all of Dr. SummerbelPs public discus- 
sions arose from the desire of brethren at a distance from the place 
where Dr. Summerbell lived. That is, he was sent for to debate. The 
controversies were never on account of difficulties which he had with 
any resident ministers, with whom his relations were always of the most 
fraternal character ; even being on terms of personal intimacy with Jew- 
ish rabbis and Catholic bishops and priests. 

In the city of Philadelphia, Rabbi Wise, of Cincinnati, there for a 
service on Broad Street, told the writer of these lines that he had often 
invited IS". Summerbell to preach for him in the Jewish "temple," and 
how he had held it against him that he had never consented, though he, 
Wise, had sometimes preached for Summerbell. 

We suspect that Summerbell declined because he did not wish to 
preach anywhere where he would not feel free to preach Jesus Christ. 

In conversation with Rabbi Wise, Dr. Summerbell once said: "Why 
do you oppose Jesus ? He was a Hebrew, a descendant of David, your own 
king. He came to Jerusalem, in the land of Judea, and was a Jewish rabbL 
The Jews ought to claim the greatest teacher of the world for their own." 

"That *s so," said Wise, "I will write a book on that." 

The following appeared in the Gospel Herald of August 18, 1866: 

QUESTION AND REPLY. 

"Elmore, Illinois, July 22, 1866. 
"Mr. Summerbell: I desire to know if you would review 'An 
Infidel Work.' F. P. Durane." 



224 SIDIMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

REPLY. 

Brother Durane : It has been some twenty years since I saw the 
book you mention. Then, after giving it a careful reading, I tore out 
the inside and carefully committed it to the fire, and have since used 
the cover to lay away old sermons in. I considered the author second 
only to Voltaire as a falsifier. No dependence can be placed in any- 
thing he says. He was a man of great learning, not, however, 
greater than that of most of his quondam brethren, the clergymen of 
the Church of England, to which I think he belonged. But his work 
amounts to nothing. Professor McKinney a few years ago met all 
his principal arguments in a debate with a living skeptic at Yellow 
Springs, and so handsomely defeated him that he never appeared in 
the place to advocate his sentiments again. Ireland was not cleaner 
swept of toads and snakes than Yellow Springs of infidel arguments. 

Mr. j — 's suppositioA that the gospel arose first at Alexandria, is 

most foolish. There is nothing in the gospel akin to the Alexandrian 
philosophy. Besides, if it had, of course the first Christians would 
have gloried in it and not denied it, since Alexandria was a seat of 
learning and the home of philosophy, and much more honored among 
the Gentiles than Jerusalem. His argument that Christ is the 
Chrishna of the Hindoos is equally foolish on the same principle. 
Disciples would never willingly change the god Chrishna off for the 
crucified one of Jerusalem unless on conviction of the truth of Jesus' 

divine mission. Do not be troubled about Mr. . He is dead, 

but Christ lives. Infidelity is worthless, but Christianity is the 
richest treasure of earth. Infidelity can do no good, but Christianity 
is converting the world. Infidelity destroys, Christ gives life. Infi- 
delity gives us death eternal, Christ eternal life. None will embrace 
infidelity who really want to be good. You speak of Owen who 
debated with Campbell. They (Owen and his friends) built New 
Harmony, founded a city all of infidels, and built a temple. The city 
is a thriving Christian villag?. The great temple is a modern pork- 
house. The families of the Owens are members of the various 
churches of the village. Don't be afraid of infidelity— it is dead. It 
can do no harm worth mentioning against Christ; once it could. 
Eighteen hundred years ago infidelity was strong, and rich, and 
popular with kings, and empires, and philosophers. Christianity was 
a little child then, and infidelity crucified it, and killed it, and buried 
it. But the little child looked up to God, and he reached down his 
arm and took it by the hand and led it on. Then infidelity fell, 
empires and nations left the skeptics 1 path and bowed to Jesus, and 
now infidelity, like vermin, shrinks in holes and dark places — its 
empire lost, its sceptre gone. N. Summerbell. 

He was early a champion of the rights of women in the church, and 
we find the following in the Gospel Herald of the issue of July 27, 1867: 



WOMEN 225 

WOMEN'S PREACHING. 

1. Miriam, the sister of Moses, Deborah, the "mother in Israel," 
Huldah, "in the college in Jerusalem," Anna, "the prophetess," and 
the four daughters of Philip make up the eight women, who are 
named as prophets or prophetesses in the Bible, while Phebe (Rom. 
1:1) is called a deaconess, and heads a long list — Priscilla, Mary, 
Tryphena, Tryphosa, Per sis, and others commended by Paul. 

2. But did they preach? How could they when Paul says, "Z 
suffer not a tooman to teach.' 1 ' 1 I suffer not women to speak in the 
church, but to "keep silence" (I. Cor. 14:34). The church, not 
being a meeting-house, but the people, what eternal silence is here 
imposed upon the women. Like orbs that roll in splendor round the 
earth— 

"In solemn silence all 
Move round the dark terrestrial ball ; 
Nor real voice, nor sound 
Amid their radiant orbs is found." 

Absolute silence — silence is the word. Not to speak— to teach — but 
to keep silence. Like the fishes of the deep, without articulation — 
silence eternal in the church. They must leave the church if they 
would speak, or sing, or pray. Yes, silence is the word. Oh, but, 
says the objector, you carry it too far. I only argue that they must 
not be ordained, or administer the ordinances; but as for singing, 
"Let them sing on." I only quoted the words "silence," not 
"speak," etc., to prove that they were to " serve tables, " and were 
not to be ordained. But if you appeal to Paul, to Paul you must go. 
And Paul says nothing about ordaining or ordinances, etc., but 
"keep silence." Can you not see that you misunderstand Paul? 
Would Paul command eight persons inspired as prophets not to 
speak ? Would Paul fight against God and command to hold their 
peace those whom God commands to speak? And here are eight 
against one. If he does, who will govern— the eight or one ? Eight 
whom God commands to speak or one whom King James's transla- 
tors, and your interpretation, command to keep silence ? Come, up 
to the work— who has authority to silence those whom God commands 
to speak ? 

3. But, replies one, the office of a deaconess was not a preaching 
office but for the service of tables, as I have proved by the ordination 
of the seven deacons (Acts 6). But hold. You guess at the prem- 
ises and blindly jump at the conclusion. "But Dr. Schaff says," etc. 
But who told Dr. Schaff ? If it is in the Bible we can get it where 
Dr. Schaff got it. "But Professor Stuart says," etc. Neither Dr. 
Schaff nor Professor Stuart says anything to the point for which they 
give any authority. Here God has inspired at least eight women as 

15 



226 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

prophets, and we deny the authority of any man so to interpret Paul 
as to silence those whom God commands to speak. In the whole 
Bible there is not one hint against women's speaking but in these 
words attributed to Paul. And surely Paul would regret in heaven, 
could regret come there, that he had innocently given occasion to 
such an unbiblical doctrine. Christianity, in prophecy, proclaimed 
that women were to speak. Joel, the Prophet, 2:28-32, "And it 
shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all 
flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old 
men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions : and also 
upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour 
out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the 
earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned 
into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the ter- 
rible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whoso- 
ever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. " 

Christianity was introduced by women's speaking. Said Mary, 
"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in 
God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his hand- 
maiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me 
blessed." (Luke 1 : 46-48.) 

' 'And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel ; 
of the tribe of Aser : she was of a great age, and had lived with an 
husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of 
about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, 
but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she 
coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and 
spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." 
(Luke 2:36-38.) 

Mark this — Anna, the prophetess, in the temple spake — gave 
thanks and spake of Jesus to all them that looked for redemption in 
Jerusalem. 

The Pentecostal revival was introduced by women's preaching. 
Acts 1 : 14, 15, "These all continued with one accord in prayer and 
supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and 
with his brethren. 

"And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, 
and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred 
and twenty)." 

Acts 2 : 1-4, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they 
were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a 
sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the 
house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them 
cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with 
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. " 



HIS PUBLIC SPEAKING 227 

Mark the words (Acts 2:4), "And they were all," etc. Next, 
Peter quotes the words of Joel on women's preaching : 

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and 
said : . . . This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel ; And 
it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my 
Spirit upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters shall 
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men 
shall dream dreams : and on my servants and on my handmaidens I 
will pour out in those days of my Spirit ; and they shall prophesy : 
. . . And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name 
of the Lord shall be saved." ( Acts 2 : 14, 16, IT, 18, 21.) 

Such is the scripture record, and such the divine testimony. Who 
dares gainsay it ? The place which woman holds in society is an 
index of its degree of civilization. In the American forest she is a 
squaw, silent in converse, and man is a savage. In Hindostan she 
is degraded, and man is a barbarian. In Turkey she is bought and 
sold, and man is half civilized. In the Bible she is a sister, a com- 
panion, a prophetess. She speaks in public, and man is a Christian. 
With the Friends woman is an equal, and the man is a Friend. Let 
us imitate the good and shun the barbarian's way. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

We have said little concerning the power over an audience possessed 
by N. Summerbell, because it is impracticable with our limited literary 
power ; but we may relate a little of what we have seen and heard. Some- 
times he would, in his extemporaneous preaching, use the language of 
Scripture for several minutes at a time, weaving it together to construct 
the logic of his discourse in sentence after sentence, and what would 
be, if printed, paragraph after paragraph, and page after page, not 
interrupting the Bible language except to insert the phrases, u As Paul 
says," "As Jesus says," "As David says," etc. The effect was wonderful. 
Sometimes the hearer felt as if in the presence of a prophet. We have 
seen a whole congregation under the spell of his influence, leaning for- 
ward as he became engrossed in some eloquent period, and soon seeming 
to hold the breath to wait for the conclusion ; and when he had com- 
pleted the passage, the people would lean back in their places, and an 
audible sigh would run through the house as the people would take their 
breath. The swaying of the audience sometimes seemed like the waves 
running over a meadow or harvest field under a summer breeze. What 
made it a delight to listen repeatedly Was the fact that he was ever new; 
sometimes repeating himself, but always with new imagery, or new 
logic, or new appeal. 

His invitations to sinners were direct and tender. It was a favorite 
custom of his, in "giving the invitation," to take the large Bible off the 
pulpit, and bear it on his arm against his breast, down upon the plat- 
form, and sometimes, if the house was crowded, down an aisle of the 
church aud back again, all the time exhorting and pleading with gentle 
tenderness. The Bible, Jesus, God, the church, heaven, and righteous- 



228 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

ness seemed beautiful, as he would talk of them in his invitations. He 
won indescribable love from the people. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of February 
29, 1868: 

THOUGHTS ON DEATH. 

Dr. Summerbell, in his New Year's sermon, on the words, ; ' This 
year thou shalt die' 1 ; "set thine house in order: for thou shalt die 1 ' 
(Jeremiah 28: 16; Isaiah 38: 1), after his introduction, a review of 
chronology, the calendar, and other topics, said : 

1. The great and good king Hezekiah is the only man whose term 
of life has been revealed to him, or the precise date of whose death 
has been made known any considerable time before it occurred. His 
life was lengthened fifteen years in answer to prayer. The lives of 
others are sometimes lengthened by God's grace, or shortened by sin 
or misfortune. The barren fig-tree was spared another year, illus- 
trating the long suffering of God toward the vessel of wrath. Many 
also have had increase of years by being raised from the dead ; others, 
as Abel, have their days shortened by the hand of the murderer; 
while wisdom has "length of days in her right hand for the 
wise," and the fifth commandment promises lengthened life to the 
obedient. All these Scripture allusions teach us that the day of our 
death is not fixed, and, therefore, we should not suppose that each 
death is according to the will of God, and we conclude that — 

2. It is not wrong to mourn for the dead. It is not murmuring 
against the divine providence to mourn for the departed ; but not to 
do so is to encourage a stoical spirit quite contrary to Christianity 
and to destroy "natural affection. 11 Abraham, Joseph, David, Mary, 
and Martha, and even Jesus, mourned for the dead. "Jesus wept 11 
at the tomb of Lazarus. It is said that by mourning we desire their 
return. Even if this were true, it does not signify evil. Elijah desired 
the return of the dead and by his prayer raised the young man to 
life. Jesus desired the return of Lazarus, and encouraged the same 
desire in Mary and Martha. 

3. Death is not a friend, -as. some suppose. The reason why 
Christians can meet death with a smile is because death is a con- 
quered foe. Everywhere in the Scripture death is set forth as an 
enemy: "the king of terrors. 11 "O Death, I will be thy plague,' 1 
"The last enemy to be destroyed is death, 11 "Christ came into the 
world to destroy death, and him that hath power over death, that is, 
the devil, 11 plainly teach that death is an enemy. Death is the child 
of sin, the offspring of Satan. The wages of sin is death. Sin, when 
it is finished, bringeth forth death. A conquered foe. The Christian 
shouts victory over it, crying, "O death, where is thy sting? O 
grave, where is thy victory ? " 

4. Death is an important period and crisis in human existence. 



INFIDELITY AND DEATH 229 

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life/' 
" He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." " He that endur- 
eth unto the end, the same shall be saved/ 1 ''Blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lord from henceforth: . . . they rest from their 
labors; and their works do follow them. " In all these passages the 
promises are made sure to the faithful, and their salvation certain at 
death. These promises are to those who are innocent or righteous, 
or who repent of their sins, and not to those who live and die 
impenitent. 

5. No view of the impenitent sinner's position affords any rational 
hope after death. Atheism views his state as an eternal sleep, but 
with no change of character except by the annihilation of being. But 
his crimes forever remain in the archives of eternity, hung up in 
everlasting infamy, as a warning to others. Cain is forever seen as 
the first murderer ; Pharaoh, the oppressor ; Herod, slaughtering the 
infants; Judas, betraying his Savior. Atheism hopes for sleep, 
— annihilation; but redeems nothing, hopes for nothing but an 
eternal blank. 

Deism imparts no well-grounded hope for the confirmed sinner. 
The Deist can only reason from history, observation, and experi- 
ence. And he who considers the stern and relentless retributions of 
life; the destructive power of sin over the soul; the sorrow, the 
anguish, the protracted sufferings, the unavoidable death of the 
reckless sinner; the unceasing pain and wide-spread destruction 
which are constantly visible to us here, does not, can not rationally 
hope to avoid the consequences of a life of sin simply by the death of 
the body. No philosophy teaches that a physical change, internal 
or external, can remove guilt. The murderer sleeps, but awakes 
with all his guilt ; the thief passes mountain and river, but is still a 
thief. The change of worlds destroys not memory, else it destroys 
identity, and our personality would be lost. Our souls, in effect, 
would be annihilated. It destroys not the conscience, else we would 
become worse instead of better. But if memory is retained, the 
sinner will remember his past life. If conscience retains her empire, 
it will overwhelm him with remorse. The Deist may argue that in 
the stern justice of the divine government all sins are fully punished 
here, and the full consequences of sin realized. But the simple pun- 
ishment of crime restores no soul to innocence, or even favor. And 
as we see that the final result and consequence of sin is death, if the 
sinner destroys himself, and there is no pardon or forgiveness, but 
the full penalty must be suffered, then must the sinner suffer an 
eternal death. In any case, Deism affords no hope of deliverance. 
No ; reasoning from past history and observation ; the effects of sin, 
and the almost universal destruction, not only in the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, but in the human family ; downfall of empires ; 
the desolations of armies; the 'ravages of disease and the broad 



230 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

empire of death ; all as truly now in the illimitable empire of God, as 
we will be in a future state, — it requires a special revelation to inform 
us that there is mercy for the merciful ; and that, if we forgive our 
debtors, God will also forgive us "all that debt" which conscience 
tells us has accrued by our sins. Reason teaches that, as here sin 
debases, degrades, casts out from society, and destroys soul and 
body, so it will there. We may find fault with the nature of things 
and the organization of society; call it " ' Partialism," and charge the 
effects of sin on religion ; but still the result is the same, and those 
who most persistently charge the separating power on the partialism 
of religion look themselves upon the drunkard with loathing, and 
carefully select their company. 

6. As with reason, so with revelation. The only hope for the 
sinner is to turn from the evil way before overtaken by death. Here 
we are to "lay up treasures in heaven." An inheritance in heaven 
is reserved for those who are kept by the power of faith, through 
grace, unto salvation. You shall be recompensed at the resurrection 
of the just. Jesus commenced his preaching with warnings : 1 1 Ex- 
cept your righteousness " ; " Except ye be converted " ; " Except a man 
be born again, he cannot (inherit or) see the kingdom of God " ; "Not 
every one that saith . . ., Lord, Lord, shall enter"; then there will 
be weeping when ye "stand without," when ye yourselves are 
"thrust out" ; the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God; 
nor shall extortioners enter the kingdom of God ; they which do such 

things shall not inherit the kingdom of God ; no shall enter 

the kingdom of God; corruption cannot inherit incorruption ; with- 
out holiness no man shall see the Lord. These repeated warnings 
are not without cause. To say they apply to this life is vain ; for 
where or when in this life does the Lord say to any, weeping and 
desiring to come to Jesus, "Depart from me ? " Nowhere. 

7. Death is a crisis in human existence. " Be thou faithful unto 
death, and I will give thee a crown of life " is the promise of the 
Savior. Life is the time to work, for k ' the night cometh, wherein 
no man can work." There are duties which must be performed in 
time or never performed — to have mercy, to obey the command- 
ments, obligations to our fellow-men, wrongs to be righted; there- 
fore, we are commanded to "set our house in order,"" 1 in view of 
death. The following Scriptures confirm the truth that the conse- 
quences of this life, up to the hour of death, are then irrevocable: 
k ' Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, 
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their 
works do follow them. " "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life." "And as it is appointed unto men once to 
die, but after this the judgment." "He that shall endure unto the 
end, the same shall be saved." "The wicked is driven away in his 
wickedness, but the righteous hath liope in his death." "Whosoever 



INCIDENTS 231 

will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." "Fear not 
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather 
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 1 ' Such 
scriptures teach us that the consequences of this life reach beyond 
death, far down into the future world. Therefore, this command is 
to each one : 

7. "Set thy house in order." That is, prepare for thy departure. 
Have all the work of life finished — all thy duty performed. 

The following incident, which occurred in 1868, is related in the 
language of Elder William Beller : 

The " orthodox " churches of the city issued a call for a series of union 
meetings, inviting all "evangelical churches of the city" to participate. 
It appears that the call was intended to exclude Elder Sunimerbell's 
church, the Disciples, and all others who were not trinitarians. Elder 
Summerbell protested and demurred against the call, that it was both 
narrow and sectarian, in several articles published in the Cincinnati 
Commercial, which undoubtedly increased his notoriety. In pursuance 
of his general ministerial labors he went to Lebanon, Ohio, and many of 
the citizens, especially the clergy, were anxious to see the man who had 
written the articles condemning the call of the "orthodox" clergy. 
While Elder Summerbell was staying with Rev. E. W. Humphreys, 
Governor McBurney, living just across the street from Elder Humphreys, 
had a birthday party on the evening of December 28, 1868, and invited 
Brothers Humphreys and Summerbell to attend. There was a large 
gathering at the governor's house, among whom were the prominent 
men of the city and their families, including the clergy, lawyers, doc- 
tors, etc. During the evening a young minister of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church, made himself very conspicuous by asking Dr. 
Summerbell questions and trying to get into an argument with him. 
Finally Elder Summerbell became a little impatient, and said : 

"Young man, are you acquainted with your Bible?" 

The young man replied, "Yes, sir." 

" Let us see." Then Summerbell asked him to quote the first verse of 
the first chapter of John's gospel. The young minister foolishly 
attempted to quote the passage, but made a signal failure. Elder Sum- 
merbell then said : 

"Young man, I would advise you now to acquaint yourself with your 
Bible before you attempt to argue theological questions again." 

The next day a prominent lawyer of Lebanon by the name of Kelley 
O'Neal said to' Brother Humphreys, "Our ministers had better let that 
minister from Cincinnati alone. He is too heavy for any of our preachers. ' ' 

He was called in various directions to make addresses. We find 
among his papers, in pamphlet form, his address delivered before the 
Southern Ohio Conference, October 16, 1869. 

His power in preaching was not solely in the logical force of it, but 
there was often wonderful tenderness and feeling. An incident is re- 
lated by Elder William Beller, that occurred at a conference at Yellow 
Springs, Ohio, perhaps in the fall of 1870 : 

Dr. Summerbell was called on to preach the first evening of the session 
to a crowded house. His subject was, "The Greatness of the Son of 
God, or of Christ." He seemed to preach that night with greater force 
than usual, perhaps. He held the whole congregation spellbound during 



232 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the services, which lasted long. At times he spoke with great tender- 
ness of spirit and pathos, melting the people to tears. In the back part 
of the house there were seated and standing a good many colored people, 
Among these was one old colored sister who became very much " warmed 
up" under the preaching, and commenced shouting, exclaiming, " Bless 
the Lord ! " "Amen ! » " Hallelujah !» u Glory to God ! » etc. One of her 
colored brethren commenced to reprove her for being so noisy, and she 
said, " Oh, how can I help it wheu he preaches so good. You '11 make 
more noise than I do if you miss Heben." 

During this pastorate at Cincinnati he published his large church his- 
tory, a royal octavo volume of 560 pages, giving the "History of the 
Christians" and the Church in general from the time of Christ to the 
year 1870. During the life of the author the book passed through four 
editions. The following is the— 

DEDICATION. 

TO MY MOTHER, 

Mary Summerbell, 

now in the eighty-second year of her life, and 
fifty years the widow of my father, 

Rev. James Summerbell, 

and who, solitary and sorrowful, yet devoted and hopeful, 
toiled on in the spirit of the departed, living to see 
three sons and two grandsons in the ministry, and to 
cheer them in their work by her able letters, 
christian counsel, and pious example, i dedi- 
cate this work as a tribute of respect and 
token of remembrance of a mother's 
care and a mother's love. 

N. Summerbell, 

Pastor of Bible Chapel,, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
March 8, 1871, my fifty-fifth birthday. 

Her great grandson, Eev. Carl Summerbell, A.M., son of J. J. Sum- 
merbell, is now ( 1900 ) in the ministry, and President of Palmer College. 

The following is SummerbelPs description of the book while it was in 
course of preparation for the public : 

THE NEW CHURCH HISTORY. 

The first part gives the history of Christ and the Apostles, and first 
churches, with evidences of Christianity and an account of Paganism ; 
the Ten Persecutions, and the triumph of the Christians. Next is the 
Council of Nice, and the formation of the Roman Church and the re- 
peated controversies and persecutions which followed. From this period, 
in order to make the existence of the true church more plain, I carry 
forward two parallel columns. The one on the right of the page being 
the history of the Christian Church down through the Dark Ages, and 
the one on the left the Roman Church. This gives all the popes and 
councils, with their character and dates, and continues from page 230 



CHRISTIAN PULPIT 233 

to 413, bringing the Roman Church down to October 2, 1870, and the 
Christian Church to the eighth century.. From page 413 it gives the 
history of the Christians during the decline and fall of the Ronian 
Empire; the rise of Protestantism; the Persecutions; the history of the 
Protestant kings, princes, and reformers ; and the great Christian writers, 
down to page 513 and the nineteenth century. From page 513 the book 
is devoted exclusively to the rise and history of the Christian Church in 
America, from Christmas day, December 25, 1793, to the close of the 
last Convention, October 4, 1870. This part embraces an account of 
the first ministers, churches, books, newspapers, writers, controversies, 
revivals, extracts from the first papers, accounts of the General Con- 
ventions, their dates and numbers, accounts of some five women 
preachers, our colleges, and" finally our last convention. This history is 
not, like most histories, divided into parts, sections, chapters, etc., which 
are at least useless, but is divided into ages, centuries, and years, so that 
the reader always has the dates before him. It does not deal in homilies 
and speculations on events, but on facts. It does not give simply the 
compiler's words, but as far as possible it gives the very words of the 
best authors, so that the student is reading Eusebius, Philostorgius, 
Fleury, Jortin, Gibbon, Mosheim, Reeves, Haweis, Milner, Neander, etc. 

During this pastorate also he established and carried forward his peri- 
odical, the Christian Pulpit, a monthly magazine devoted to theological 
and doctrinal subjects. Its income was a great assistance in his support, 
for the church a part of the time was able to do little beyond bearing the 
minor expenses of the services, no help being extended by the mission- 
ary society. The magazine increased in popularity until it was sought 
by the Christian Publishing Association, and he was induced to part 
with it on account of the representations that its publication by him 
would diminish the patronage of the periodicals of the Association. 

The love of Dr. Summerbell for his own was seen in his appointing 
his son associate editor with himself on the Christian Pulpit. He 
valued his work, occasionally referring to him subjects of difficulty, 
without doubt moved chiefly by personal love. 

The magazine was principally doctrinal, having no deference to that 
fear of dogmatic writing which ties the tongues of so many at the pres- 
ent time; nor to that condemnation of doctrinal preaching exhibited by 
many who are personally quarrelsome. As illustrative of the style of 
the magazine, we quote the following article on baptismal salvation, in 
which it should be remembered, in order to a clear understanding of 
the words of Alexander Campbell and President Russell, which are 
quoted at great length, that the word Reformation in their language 
is used for the movement of Alexander Campbell ( its denominational 
activity, its organization, and its doctrine ) : 

ONE HUNDRED REASONS 

WHY CHRISTIAN MINISTERS DO NOT PREACH IMMERSION IN WATER IN ORDE1S 

TO THE REMISSION OP SINS, AND DO NOT REJECT THE UNIMMERSED 

FROM THE CHURCH AS OUT OF CHRIST AND WITHOUT PROMISE. 

1. Jesus was baptized, who had no sins to be remitted. 

2. We should baptize the children of God whose sins are 
remitted. 



•234 8UMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

3. Ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 

4. "All that believe are justified from all things." 

5. We baptize only those who love God, and he "that lov- 
■eth is born of God." 

6. Jesus being our example, only those who are converted 
and like him should be baptized. 

7. Being disciples before baptism, our sins are remitted 
before baptism. (John 4:1.) 

8. Jesus never required baptism before pardon. 

9. Noah's salvation by the flood is a figure of baptism 
-salvation ; but Noah was righteous, a preacher, and pardoned 
before. (I. Peter 3 : 21, 22.) 

10. The baptism of the Israelites in the cloud and in the 
sea, in escaping from bondage, is an example unto us ; but 
they were children of God, and had eaten the passover long 
before the baptism. God had said, "Israel is my Son, even 
my firstborn." (Ex. 4 : 22.) 

11. It cannot be proved by the New Testament that an 
unpardoned sinner, except Simon, was ever baptized (Acts 
8 : 23 ) ; and he was not pardoned in baptism, but afterward 
directed to pray for his pardon. 

12. It cannot be denied that the apostles neglected to 
preach it as plainly, and to insist upon it as constantly as its 
present advocates, which can only be accounted for by admit- 
ting that they did not believe it ; that they were not of the 
same faith. 

13. There is no command to baptize in order to remission, 
as there would be were it a true doctrine. 

14. Jesus made the conditions of pardon very plain : "Ask, 
and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh re- 
ceiveth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; andto him that knock- 
■eth it shall be opened." (Luke 11 : 9, 10.) 

15. This agrees with the parables. The prodigal had no 
good works, but only confessed, praying, and his father went 
out to meet him. The publican had no good works, but re- 
mained out in prayer and was justified. Also the penitent 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 235 

thief was pardoned without baptism, and certainly all others 
were pardoned in the same way. 

16. This agrees with Peter's first promise at Pentecost, 
" Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be 
saved." (Acts 2: 21.) 

17. And with Paul, who said of the gospel, It is not yea 
and nay, but yea and amen, (II. Cor. 1 : 20.) 

18. The most lengthy account of conversion is in the tenth 
chapter of Acts, and there baptism is not named till after the 
Spirit was given. 

19. Being Gentiles, the first sermon to Gentiles (Acts 10) 

is more applicable to us than the first sermon to the Jews 

(Acts 2). In the sermon to the Gentiles (Acts 10), we learn 

these facts, namely : 

God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10 : 34.) 

In every nation the righteous are accepted. 

God sent his word to men by Christ Jesus. 

The beginning of the gospel was in Galilee. 

Peter was to tell them words whereby they were to be saved. 

The words of salvation which he told them were, that "to 
him [Christ] give all the prophets witness, that through his 
name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of 
sins." (Acts 10: 43.) 

The Holy Ghost was given before baptism. 

God having accepted them, Peter could not withstand God. 
(Acts 11: 17.) 

Peter told them what they ought to do (Acts 10 : 6) ; that 
is, after they received the Holy Ghost, he told them to be 
baptized. (Acts 10 : 47, 48.) 

Said Peter, " The Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the 
beginning," consequently the order was the same, and in both 
cases the Spirit preceded the water. (Acts 11 : 15.) 

20. The objection that Cornelius was not in a saved state, 
because Peter was to tell him words whereby he might be 
saved, is fallacious, as salvation is past, present, and future. 
All Christians have been saved from past sins, and yet hope 
to be saved in the present and in the future world. " He that 
endureth to the end shall be saved." 



236 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

21. Cornelius's receiving salvation before baptism agrees 
well with Paul's account of salvation to his Gentile convert at 
Philippi. There the great question was first fully stated and 
promptly answered. 

Question. "What must I do to be saved?" 
Answer. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16 : 31.) 

22. Romans 10, the only chapter in the epistles giving a 
detailed account of conversion, contrasts the law and the gos- 
pel thus : 

The law said: "The man which doeth those things should 
live by them." 

But the gospel says: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath 
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the 
heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, 
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there 
is no difference between the Jew and the Greek : for the same 
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whoso- 
ever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." 
(Rom. 10 : 9-13.) Could anything be plainer? Could prom- 
ises be surer? How wrong then to deny that faith can claim 
the promises ! 

Campbell's Testimony. — "The proper door into the society of 
saints for two thousand years was faith* It was constituted in 
all ages the redeeming principle." ("Campbell and Rice De- 
bate," p. 359.) 

All the Prophets. — "To him give all the prophets witness, 
that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall 
receive remission of sins." (Acts 10 : 43.) 

Paul makes very plain the contrast between the law and 
the gospel. 

Laiv Religion. — He that doeth. (Rom. 10 : 5.) 

Gospel Religion. — Whosoever believeth. (Rom. 10 : 11.) 

Salvation is "not far away in heaven, or in the deep," but 
"nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart." How like Jesus' 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 237 

first sermon : " Ask, and ye shall receive." How like salvation 
at the house of Cornelius : "While Peter yet spake these words, 
the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." (Acts 
10 : 44.) This agrees with all the Bible record from the be- 
ginning of the world. 

23. Examples of prayer. — "Then began men to call upon 
the name of the Lord." (Gen. 4 : 26.) 

Abraham. — "He is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, 
and thou shalt live." (Gen. 20 : 7.) 

Moses. — See his prayer for Israel. (Ex. 32 : 30, 31.) 

Job. — He shall pray for you. (Job 42 : 8.) 

Prayer. — Matt. 7 : 21, "Not every one that saith unto me, 
Lord, Lord," is misapplied to prayer. It applies when the 
door is shut in the judgment day. In that day many will 
say, "Lord, Lord, open to us" (Matt. 25 : 11), but he will say, 
Depart. Not so with those who come to him now in prayer. 
"Every one that asketh receiveth." (Matt. 7 : 8.) There 
is no road to heaven without prayer. "Seek, and ye shall 
find"; "Seek first the kingdom of God"; "Seek the Lord, if 
haply they may feel after him, and find him." (Acts 17 : 27.) 
Whatever might be the sacrifice or ordinance, men ever sought 
the Lord by prayer. 

24. It implies that Jesus was baptized for remission of his 
sins. Mr. Campbell says: "Baptism for (in order to) the 
remission of sins is the only baptism of which the New Testa- 
ment knows anything. There never was any other ordained 
of God — John's baptism or Christ's baptism ; there is no 
other." A. Campbell, " Campbell and Rice Debate," p. 495 : 
"There was no baptism except for remission of sins!" But 
we reply there is no baptism in order to remission. Jesus' 
baptism was an act of righteousness, proving that baptism is 
for the good, and all who are converted to goodness, signifying 
the change in converts to a new life, yet plainly following the 
change — not preceding it. 

25. If the only way to pardon were by baptism, Jesus 
would not have omitted stating it in the Sermon on the Mount. 
(Matt. 5, 6, 7.) 



238 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

26. Places from which this doctrine excludes salvation: All 
countries where there are no Baptists ; all parts where there is 
no administrator ; all places where there is no deep water ; 
from all the face of the earth above high-water mark — moun- 
tains, fields, highways ; all out of the water, ordinarily ; from 
the polar region during the long winters ; the sandy deserts, 
plains, and prairies ; church-rooms, parlors, prisons, sick 
beds, battle fields, dry places, every place out of the water and 
absent from a baptizer. 

27. To say candidates thus deprived of baptism are lost is 
barbarous. To say that God deviates from his own rule and 
saves them gives up the whole question ; for the pedobaptist, 
in his devout ignorance of the ordinance, is as worthy of 
mercy as the convert who cannot obtain it. 

28. Pleading that who are lost, or who are saved, does not 
concern us, but that we have only to obey the truth, is not 
correct, as the doctrine is not true, and no true doctrine can be 
liable to such objections. 

29. People whom it excludes from heaven: All Quakers, 
Episcopalians, two hundred million Catholics, forty million 
Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and all the smaller sects 
who are unimmersed, embracing most of all the good and 
learned men and philanthropists in the world, — the Penns, 
Newtons, Wilberforces, Miltons, Wesleys, Peabodys, — includ- 
ing the vast multitudes of good people in all the world. 

To sustain this doctrine men have thrust Jesus out of his 
own church during his ministry, denied his kingdom during 
his earthly life, refused the willing praises awarded him by 
children who cried, " Hosanna : Blessed is the King of Israel 
that cometh in the name of the Lord"; rejected his gospels 
from the Gospel, denied that he preached his own gospel while 
on earth ; and seizing the crown from his head, denied the 
authority of his word in the Gospel, denied that he has power 
to forgive sins, except at the will of a baptizer and by the aid 
of water ; so that he might truly say to a poor sinner praying, 
"I can do nothing for you unless you can get a-man to baptize 
you." We urge our brethren, whom we love, to abandon a 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 239 

doctrine so exclusive, and to unite with other Christians in 
building up pure religion. 

30. This doctrine changes the gospel preaching. Few min- 
isters, giving the invitation, can say, "All things are ready," 
since the impossibility of immediate immersion prevents 
immediate salvation. 

31. It is inconsistent to suppose that God would permit a. 
converted man to remain unpardoned, because water for bap- 
tism may be forbidden, or an administrator may not be at hand. 

32. If baptism were the only way of pardon, the Bible 
would be all luminous with the statements. 

33. It is inconsistent to suppose immersion should be 
absolutely essential to pardon, and nearly all Bible readers be 
ignorant of it until instructed by modern ministers. 

34. The knowledge of all Bible truths is common to all 
denominations. Only the errors of religion are peculiar to 
certain sects. 

■ 35. Baptism in order to remission is not in the new cove- 
nant. "This is the covenant . . . ; I will put my laws into 
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; and their 
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where 
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." ( Heb. 
10 : 16-18.) 

36. It is not in the commission. In the commission where 
remission is named, it is connected, not with baptism, but 
repentance : " That repentance and remission of sins should 
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jeru- 
salem." (Luke 24 : 47.) 

37. The commission in Matthew : "Teach all nations, bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you." (Matt. 28 : 19, 20.) 

38. Mark: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these 
signs shall follow them that believe." (Mark 16 : 16, 17.) 

"He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be 
saved." (Matt. 24: 13.) 



240 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Parallel with baptism, not changing the promise of salva- 
tion through faith, is, "All that believe are justified from all 
things." (Acts 13 : 39.) 

"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his 
name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of 
sins." (Acts 10: 43.) 

Luke : " That repentance and remission of sins should be 
preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jeru- 
salem." (Luke 24 : 47.) This is the proper order, as Luke 
said that he was a witness (verse 48) of all that Jesus began 
both to do and to teach. He, therefore, omitted nothing essen- 
tial to remission of sins. (Acts 1:1.) 

39. Had baptism been essential to remission, John would 
have recorded it, as he says that he included all that is essen- 
tial to eternal life. (John 20 : 31.) 

40. Even baptism is not in Paul's commission ; he was 
not sent to baptize, yet he was sent "to turn them from dark- 
ness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they 
may receive forgiveness of sins," (Acts 26 : 18.) 

41. It implies that Christ, "the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life" is neither the Way, the Truth, nor the Life, and many 
therefore turn from him to Peter, saying, "Christ did not 
preach the gospel." 

42. The texts. The very few texts on which it rests afford 
it no shelter. If we quote to support it John 3:5,6, " Except 
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; 
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," the text will not 
serve the doctrine unless we "change born to baptize, and then 
it will read, " Except a man be baptized of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom," shutting out all who deny 
water baptism. If we say born, when referring to water, 
means baptism, but referring to spirit, means begetting, we 
reverse the order of nature, and make birth precede begetting. 
Born signifies not coming out of, as out of the river, but com- 
ing out of, as by propagation. There is no birth where the 
born is not young produced from, and out of, and partaking 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 241 

of the nature and substance of the parent. Therefore no man 
is born of literal water, else he would be a literal spring. The 
^Savior explains the birth of water, saying, "That which is 
born of flesh is flesh." (John 3 : 6.) In Acts 2 : 38, the 
-Greek preposition correctly understood as unto, parallel with 
Matt. 3: 11, "Unto repentance," and I. Cor. 10: 2, "Unto 
Moses," leaves no excuse for "in order to." In Acts 22 : 16, 
"Wash away thy sins," the term wash is not equivalent to 
pardon, or it would be, "Arise, criminal, and pardon yourself," 
or "Arise, sinner, and forgive yourself." A. Campbell says: 
'"The water of baptism formally washes away sins. The 
blood of Christ really washes away sins. Paul's sins were 
really pardoned when he believed." ("Campbell and Rice 
Debate," p. 516.) On wash, see Ps. 26 : 6 ; 51 : 7 ; Isa. 1 : 16 ; 
Jer. 4 : 14 ; Rev. 1 : 5 ; 7 : 14. So Pilate washed his hands 
{Matt. 27 : 24), not to touch guilt, but to signify innocence. 

43. It is admitted that baptism for remission is neither in 
the Old Testament, nor in the gospels ("Campbell and Rice 
Debate," p. 359 ; Everett's "First Principles," p. 8), but a new 
•doctrine set up at Pentecost, after the crucifixion. But as 
•comparatively few heard that sermon, and it was not written 
for many years after, in order for other penitents to know this 
doctrine, it required the constant restatement in every sermon 
to every convert. 

44. This is illustrated in those who teach it, going back 
forever and ever from all other parts of the Bible to Acts 2 : 38 
-as the only key by which to know "Just what to do to be 
saved." But this key-text not being written or circulated till 
years after Pentecost, converts subsequent to that time could 
not know the doctrine. It is not strange that, having invented 
the doctrine, one text should be found capable of being so far 
pressed into the service as to seem to favor it ; or, by adding 

, water and in order to, even seem to teach it. But it is strange 
that any should suppose a doctrine biblical which, if true, is 
so important as to keep from pardon all who do not understand 
it, and yet is not clearly stated once, but only crowded in by 
adding half to the only text supposed to mean it. 

16 



242 STJMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

45. Some, not satisfied with one baptism, insist on trine- 
immersion for remission, and also disfellowship those who- 
differ from them. Their great argument differs from the 
others only in their three immersions being essential. On 
this they exclude the one immersionist for remission, just as he 
excludes the unimmersed. Their key -text for trine immersion 
is Matt. 28 : 19, " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But here is the same 
difficulty repeated, viz : The text says not one word about, 
three baptisms. True, we are baptized in the name of th& 
three. So Jesus says that he will come in his own glory, and 
in his Father's glory, and in the glory of the holy angels ; but 
who believes that he will come first in his own glory, then in 
his Father's, and a third time in the glory of the angels ? 
Men may believe such notions if they desire, but should not 
unchristianize others for not holding them. Even one im- 
mersion as the only way to pardon makes salvation harder 
under the gospel than under the law. Thus it is pleaded that 
the crucified penitent was saved without baptism because the- 
gospel was not set up, but it is denied that a like sinner could 
have been saved thus after Pentecost ; so that like case& 
occurring now, the lost ones will forever feel that they might, 
have been saved had it not been for the gospel. Thus it. 
makes the gospel a curse instead of a blessing. 

46. It is inconsistent to say that if a man can be baptized 
to-morrow, next week, or next month, he cannot be pardoned 
before baptism, and yet admit that if he cannot be baptized he- 
may obtain pardon now. This makes his ability to obey a 
misfortune, preventing his pardon for a time. 

47. The preparation for pardon is in repentance, faith, and 
prayer, called also confession. John came preaching "the 
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." (Mark 1 : 4.)- 
Heaven rejoices over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15 :7.) 
Jesus commanded that repentance and remission of sins should 
be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem. Peter, obeying, said in his first preaching, "Re~ 
pent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus. 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 243 

Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift 
of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2 : 38.) 

Peter said in his second sermon, "Repent ye therefore, and 
be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the 
times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." 
(Acts 3 : 19.) Peter said in his third sermon that God had 
exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repent- 
ance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5 : 31.) 

48. Jesus said of our duty to an erring brother, "If he 
repent, forgive him." (Luke 17 : 3.) 

49. Paul says, "Forgiving one another, even as God for 
Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Eph. 4:32.) Who will 
contend that baptism must precede our pardon to a brother? 
Yet it is to be even as God for Christ's sake forgives us. 

50. Baptism as a figure saves us, but faith truly saves. 
"The like figure [of the flood or ark] whereunto even baptism 
doth also now save us." (I. Pet. 3 : 21.) 

Luke 7 : 50, "Thy faith hath saved thee." 
Luke 18 : 42, "Thy faith hath saved thee." 
Luke 8 : 12, "They should believe and be saved." 
Rom. 8 : 24, "We are saved by hope." 
Eph. 2 : 8, "By grace are ye saved through faith." 

51. While baptism is a figure of something else in salva- 
tion, faith saves. We therefore teach that as Noah's sins were 
pardoned, and he was accepted before the flood, so are we 
before baptism. 

52. We have the following promises of salvation : 

Acts 2 : 21, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord 
shall be saved." 

Acts 16 : 31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved." 

Acts 13 : 39, "All that believe are justified." 

Acts 10 : 43, "Whosoever believeth in him shall receive 
remission of sins." 

Mark 16 : 16, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 

Acts 2 : 38, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in 
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." 



244 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Acts 3 : 19, "Repent . . . and be converted, that your sins 
may be blotted out." 

Matt. 10 : 22, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." 

Matt. 24 : 13, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same 
shall be saved." 

While the objection that all required in any one place for 
salvation is to be understood as required in every other case 
is fallacious, as the lost condition of men differs, and salvation 
does not always mean the same thing — one is to "believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ," and he shall be saved (Acts 16 : 31) ; 
another to "endure unto the end" to be saved (Matt. 24 : 13) ; 
another is to be delivered "unto Satan for the destruction of 
the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 
Jesus" (I. Cor. 5:5); another offers his simple prayer on the 
cross and is saved. 

53. There are promises to faith when mentioned alone 
(John 3 : 30 ; Acts 10 : 43 ; 16 : 31) ; and repentance, .when 
mentioned alone, although it is frequently united to remis- 
sion, as Luke 24 : 47 ; and prayer, when mentioned alone, has 
the promise (Acts 2 : 21 ; Rom. 10 : 13) of salvation. There 
is no place where a single promise is predicated upon baptism, 
unless where it is so united to faith or repentance that collat- 
eral passages prove the same promise attached to faith or 
repentance before as after baptism. 

54. It does harm in creating a spirit of boasting con- 
demned in Rom. 2 : 27 ; 4 : 2-6, and creates an aversion to 
immersion by making a charitable Christian, as soon as im- 
mersed, withdraw his hand from his brethren, saying, "I am 
holier than you," as though "immersion made him worse 
instead of better. Our work is not to build up a party, or 
fossilize a sect in the crustation of human opinions, but to 
sow the seed of truth and bear the fruit of charity. We there- 
fore recognize such able ministers as Apollos and the twelve 
(Acts 18 : 24 ; 19 : 3-6) as true disciples, though wanting in 
Christian baptism. These cases prove that the Apostolic 
Church was not stringently Baptist, but Christian. 

55. Baptismal remission perpetuates the worst form of 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 245 

priestcraft by depriving man of coming to God without the 
aid of outward places, men, or things often beyond his reach. 
True religion places no outward thing between the sinner and 
his Savior, or the kingdom of God. It is not " Lo here ! " or 
"Lo there !" "in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem," or "far 
off," or "beyond the sea," or "in the deep," or "in heaven," 
but "nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart," "the 
kingdom of God is within you," "seek the Lord . . . though 
he be not far from every one of us : for in him we live, and 
move, and have our being " ; so that salvation is " not of the 
will of men." It is to be heard ! True. But "have they not 
heard? . . . their sound went into all the earth, and their 
words unto the ends of the world." "The grace of God that 
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." ( Deut. 4 : 
11 ; John 1 : 13 ; 4 : 21 ; Rom. 10 : 7-18 ; Acts 17 : 27 ; Titus 
2 : 11.), 

56. It thrusts God aside, forbidding the sinner to pray to 
him, rendering God powerless to save, until permitted by the 
baptizer, who talks boastingly of " inducting the sinner into the 
kingdom," and "into Christ," when God will be " under obli- 
gation to save him," contrary to Rom. 3 : 27 ; 4 : 2-4 ; 11 : 6 ; 
Eph. 2:9; Titus 3:5. 

57. It is cruel presumption thus to profess to put a sinner 
into Christ by the physical act of immersion. And the victim 
of such mockery will be interested to know that the word on 
which the certainty of his being into Christ rests, is the same 
Greek word which in Matt. 3 : 11 his minister told him means 
unto, in Acts 2 : 38 in order to, and in I. Cor. 10 : 2 unto again. 
Yet on this preposition, eis, so variously rendered according to 
the opinion of the translator, he depends. Trusting that be- 
cause in Acts 2 : 38 it must mean in order to, therefore, his sins 
are pardoned, but because in Rom. 6:4 it must mean into, 
therefore, he is certain that he is into Christ ; but because in 
John 3 : 18, and an hundred other places, it does not mean 
into, nor in order to, therefore, he has a right to regard all out 
of Christ and unpardoned who do not adopt his opinion and 
practice. 



246 STJMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

58. Permit the Universalist this same interpretation, viz : 
to make eis mean, literally, into and his work will be done 
at once, in a much shorter way than by baptism : for he 
will find not only were some "baptized (eis) into Christ," Rom. 
6 : 3 ; but also, "Many believed (eis) into Christ," John 2 : 23 ; 
others, "Sin (eis) into Christ," I. Cor. 8 : 12 ; and "Blaspheme 
(eis) into the Holy Ghost," Mark 3 : 29 ; and even "Sinned 
(eis) into heaven," Luke 15 : 18. 

59. Jesus in no instance delayed pardon for want of bap- 
tism, but often used those hated words, " Only believe," 
Mark 5 : 36 ; Luke 8 : 50. So like the words of Abraham, 
David, and Paul, as "Worketh not," " Justifieth the ungodly," 
"Righteousness without works." (Rom. 4 : 5, 6.) All imply 
that a poor, trembling penitent believer, before he has good 
works, may obtain remission of sins that are past through 
faith in Christ (Rom 4 : 25), in answer to the prayer, "God 
be merciful to me a sinner." This is the gospel which we 
desire all our Christian brethren to see, that they may look 
upon the beautiful ordinance of baptism as a Christian duty, 
and not a barrier to be forever thrust in between a sinner and 
pardon. 

60. Whatever may be said to the contrary, Jesus was the 
first and model preacher, and his words are our guide and his 
practice is our example. He himself is the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life. In the Gospels, cases of conversions or pardon 
are recorded twenty-nine times, but only in three is baptism 
named. We do not argue from this that there were no more, 
but that baptism was not the main idea. 

In the Acts conversions are implied in all the following 
texts, only the smaller number of which name baptism : 

2 : 38, Baptized. 11:21, Believed. 18 : 8, Baptized. 

3 : 19, Converted. 13: 12, Believed. IT: 4, Believed. 

4: 4, Believed. 13 : 43, Followed. 17: 12, Believed. 

6 : 7, Obedient. 13 : 48, Believed. 17 : 34, Believed. 

8:12, Baptized. 14: 1, Believed. 18: 8, Baptized. 

8 : 38, Baptized. 14: 9, Faith. 19: 3, Baptized. 

9:18, Baptized. 14 : 23, Believed. 19 : 18, Believed. 

9:35, Turned. 14:27. Door of Faith. 21 : 25, Believe. 

10 : 48, Baptized. 16:15, Baptized. 28 : 24, Believed. 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 247 

Here twenty-seven cases of conversion are named, in nine of 
which, or just one-third, baptism is named, proving clearly 
that the apostles considered believing the main idea. Had 
they believed that baptism was the " line of life " they would 
have said of all — they were baptized — as it is now said, 
"They were immersed." 

61. Paul calls repentance the foundation, and reproving 
others for not knowing which is first, gives the following order 
with the introduction : Heb. 5 : 12 ; 6:1,2, "When for the 
time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you 
again which be the first principles of the oracles of God." 
"Let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the foun- 
dation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward 
>God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, 
and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." 
Mark the order : 

I. The foundation of repentance. 

II. Faith toward God. 

III. Baptism. 

IV. Laying on of hands. 
V. Resurrection. 

VI. Judgment. 

Let no man change the order, unless he knows more than 
Paul. In salvation, the law of God gives the knowledge of 
sin, being conviction, which is the beginning of repentance. 
Repentance changes the heart from love of sin to love of holi- 
ness, and prepares us to lay hold of hope in the Savior, or 
faith. Therefore, repentance is always placed first. See the 
following texts : 

" Repent : for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." ( Matt. 4 : 17.) 
"Repented not afterward, that ye might believe. 1 ' (Matt. 21 : 32.) 
' ' Repented, and went " ( to work in the vineyard ) . ( Matt. 21:29.) 
" Repent ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1 : 15.) 
"Repentance and remission of sins." (Luke 24 : 47.) 
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you." (Acts 2 : 38.) 
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted." (Acts 3 : 19.) 
"Repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. ,, (Acts 5 : 31.) 
" Repent therefore . . . and pray God." (Acts 8: 22.) 



248 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"Repentance toward God, and faith toward,' 1 etc. (Acts 20 : 21.) 
" Repent and turn to God, and do," etc. (Acts 26 : 20.) 
4 ' Repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. " ( II. Tim. 2:25.) 
"Repentance from dead works, and of faith." (Heb. 6:1.) 

Repentance is most frequently mentioned with remission, and 
supposes faith. It stands first in all evangelical statement. 
There cluster after it various duties and privileges, teaching 
us that we are not to wait for any one in preference to another, 
but go on as follows : 

I. Repent and believe the gospel. 
Repent and be converted. 
Repent and be baptized. 
II. Faith, properly stated next, has also crowding after it its 
next corresponding duty or blessing, as 

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
"Believeth, . . . confession is made unto salvation. " 
"Faith, hope, charity." 

Confession, prayer, and conversion do not so much follow, 
but are worked out by repentance and faith, and 

III. Baptism follows thus : 

"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." 
"Baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost." 
" Why tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized." 

62. The plea that all faith is dead until works are pro- 
duced is wrong, as faith, the tree, must exist alive before it 
can produce fruit of good works. Faith is only dead where 
it fails in proper time to bring forth fruit "unto eternal life." 

63. There are none of these phrases in the Bible ; namely, 
baptism for remission, baptism in order for remission, gospel 
order — faith, repentance, and baptism, etc. 

64. To suppose that Peter meant to say, " Baptized in water 
in order to remission," but said, "Be baptized every one of you 
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins," is pre- 
suming Peter to be too ignorant. Peter said what he meant.. 
What he said I will place in the upper, and the wrong meaning 
in the lower line, that the reader may see how differently they 
read : 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 249 

j Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 

( Be immersed in water every one of you in the name of Jesus 

( Christ for the remission. \ n ■ 

L, ., . 7 . . . [ (Acts 2: 38.) 

( Christ in order to remission. ) 

Or leave the intervening words in parenthesis, and quote 
the remainder, we have, then, instead of four words of Peter, 
eight words, with but two of Peter's words found in the text, 
thus : 

Bible reading: Be baptized (every one of you in the name of 
Jesus Christ) for the remission. 

Their opinion: Be immersed in water (every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ) in order to remission. 

Or to shorten the lines as they quote them, we have : 

Their opinion — Be immersed in water in order to remission. 
Bible reading — Be baptized for remission. 

65. As the six added words, and not the two, contain the 
doctrine, of course the doctrine is not divine, but human, added 
to the Word of God ; therefore, the doctrine of immersion in 
order to admission is not a divine or Bible doctrine. To add 
to other parts of the Bible in the same ratio would make the 
book twice its present size, with only one-fourth from God. 
We dare not add to the Word of God three-fourths as in the 
present verse to make out our own opinion. 

66. "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, 
and thou be found a liar." (Prov. 30 : 6.) "If any man shall 
add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues 
that are written." (Rev. 22 : 18.) It is not our desire to add 
anything which would exclude the good from heaven. 

67. True, baptized may signify immersed, and it may mean 
in water, and we may be honest in the opinion that it is in 
order to remission ; but no system is biblical which requires 
the changing of so many words, to four words adding four, 
and of eight in the text retaining but two of the words in the 
common version. It requires too many changes of God's word, 
which, changed, is no longer God's word, but man's word, or, it 
may be, Satan's word, to divide the church or reject saints. 



"250 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The Christian minister does not take the Bible only to prove 
his doctrine, but he takes the Bible for his doctrine, and there- 
fore dare not change it thus. 

68. It is impracticable, though it teaches that only the im- 
mersed are Christian, yet we are forced to fellowship others as 
Christians in business, at the family altar, in the prayer-meet- 
ing, at the communion, and in the pulpit. It is, therefore, 
impossible to regard all but the immersed as aliens. It is im- 
practicable. When the unimmersed child of prayer and faith 
dies, it is impossible to suppose it lost. It is impracticable in 
that, even if true, it is hid from most Bible-loving people, and 
therefore they can neither believe nor obey it. It is impracticable 
in that it is often far away, as on the morrow, next week, or 
next year, out of doors, in a distant water or country, or where 
there is no administrator or opportunity. Not in one case out 
of an hundred is it attended to immediately. I am just read- 
ing the history of the rise of the Baptist Churches in North 
Germany, where candidates often waited months, it being 
against the law. So closely were they watched by the police, 
one minister crossed the sea to England to be immersed. But 
God says of the word of salvation, "It is not hidden from thee, 
neither is it far off, . . . nor beyond the sea" (Deut. 30 : 11, 
13), nor in "the deep, . . . but in thy mouth, and in thy 
heart." (Rom. 10: 7, 8.) 

69. Immersion for remission, and its kindred doctrines, are 
impracticable in this that their advocates abandon them in 
the light of reason and charity. Mr. A. Campbell, one of its 
greatest advocates, and one of the strongest men of the Ameri- 
can pulpit, says : " Who is a Christian ? I answer, every one 
that believes in his heart that Jesus of Nazareth is the Mes- 
siah, the Son of God ; repents of his sins, and obeys him in all 
things, according to his measure of the knowledge of his will. 
I cannot, therefore, make any one duty the standard of Chris- 
tian state or character, not even immersion." (A. Campbell.) 
"Should I find a pedobaptist more intelligent in the Christian 
Scriptures, more spiritual-minded, and more devoted to the 
Lord than a Baptist, or one immersed, etc., I could not hesi- 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 251 

tate a moment in giving the preference of my heart to him 
that loved most. Did I act otherwise I would be a pure sec- 
tarian, a Pharisee among Christians. Still I may be asked, 
how do I know that any one loves my Master but by obedience 
to his commandments? I answer, In no other w T ay. But 
mark, I do not substitute obedience to one commandment for 
universal or even for general obedience. And should I see a 
sectarian Baptist, or a pedobaptist, more spiritual-minded, 
more generally conformed to the requisition of the Messiah, 
than one w T ho precisely acquiesces with me in the theory or 
practice of immersion as I teach, doubtless the former rather 
than the latter would have my cordial approbation and love 
as a Christian ; so I judge, and so I feel. It is the image of 
Christ the Christian looks for and loves, and this does not 
consist in being exact in a few items, but in general devotion 
to the whole truth as far as known. With me, mistakes of 
the understanding and errors of the affections are not to be 
confounded ; they are as distinct as the poles. An angel may 
mistake the meaning of a commandment, but he will obey it 
in the sense in which he understands it. John Bunyan, the 
Baptist, and John Newton were very different persons, and 
had very different views of baptism, and some other things, 
yet they were both disposed to obey, and, to the extent of their 
knowledge, did obey the Lord in everything. . . . Now, unless 
I could prove that all who neglect the positive institutions of 
Christ, and have substituted for them something else of human 
authority, do it knowingly, or, if not knowingly, are volun- 
tarily ignorant of what is written, I could not, I dare not say 
that their mistakes are such as unchristianize all of their 
professions." (A. Campbell, "Mill. Harb. New Ser.," Vol. I., 
pp. 411-413 ; "Campbell and Kice Debate," pp. 517, 518.) 

"I do not make baptism absolutely essential to salvation in 
any case." (A. Campbell, "Campbell and Rice Debate," 
p. 519.) 

"I admit that a person who believes the gospel "and cannot 
be immersed may obtain remission." (A. Campbell, ibid., 
p. 516.) 



252 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"The water of baptism formally washes away our sins. The 
blood of Christ really washes away our sins. Paul's sins 
were really pardoned when he believed." (A. Campbell, 
debate with McCalla, p. 135 ; " Campbell and Rice Debate," 
p. 516.) 

What ? then, is baptism, in Mr. Campbell's view ? It is a 
sign and a seal. He says baptism is not a procuring cause, 
but "it is a solemn pledge, and a formal assurance on the part 
of our heavenly Father that he has forgiven all our offenses 
— a seal and a pledge." "Baptism according to the Apostolic 
Church, is both a sign and a seal of remission of all former 
sins. In this sense only 'doth baptism now save us.' 'Cir- 
cumcision is said to have been, in one case at least, a sign and 
a seal. Baptism, in the same sense, and in a similar case, is 
also both a sign and a seal. The sign, however, at most, is 
only indicative of what has been sealed. Such, indeed, are 
all sensible signs. The sense, we may say, is in the sign, and 
the confirmations in the seaV — 'a seal of the righteousness of 
faith, or the remission of all our past sins, through faith in 
his blood, then and in that act publicly confirmed? " (" Camp- 
bell on Baptism," p. 272.) 

"Baptism, though not an antitype of a type, a sign of a 
sign, or a seal of a seal, as some system makers would make 
it when representing it as coming in the room, and standing 
in the stead of circumcision, is, indeed, analogous to circum- 
cision, as the sabbath to the Lord's day, or as the Passover to 
the Lord's Supper, especially in this : that in one point, it is a 
sign of the burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and of 
our burial and resurrection in and with him ; and in another 
point of view, a seal of the righteousness of faith, or the re- 
mission of all our past sins, through faith in his blood, then, 
and in that act, publicly expressed and confirmed. This most 
unquestionably as its place, its meaning, and importance in 
the Christian institution. This and no other view of it now 
entertained* by professing Christians, fully expounds and ex- 
hausts all that is said of it in the apostolic Scriptures in the 
abstracts of Christian doctrine." (See "Campbell on Baptism," 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 253 

p. 272; "Campbell and Rice Debate," pp. 516-519; "Camp- 
bell and McCalla," p. 135.) 

Though Mr. Campbell was the giant advocate of this doc- 
trine, yet when permitted to explain himself, he only regarded 
it as an opinion held subservient to the faith of the gospel, 
which could not be reconciled unto it. All can see the Chris- 
tian spirit, the wisdom, calmness, and moderation of these 
words. If Mr. Campbell's doctrine seems contrary to this 
spirit, it is evident that the doctrine must be modified and 
reconciled to this sober second thought of his better judgment. 
Speculative theory often leads through dark mazes of conflict- 
ing thought till the victim of daring speculation is lost in the 
intricate labyrinths of error. But. the mind, suddenly relieved 
by passing out into the broad daylight of common sense, 
resumes its manhood, and looks back with horror upon the 
crooked paths of error, rejoicing to walk God's own great 
highway of Bible truth, and the freed soul offers its best 
thoughts. So Mr. Campbell, rising above sectarian bias, be- 
comes himself truly Christian in the calmer moments of dis- 
passionate reflection. 

70. Elder W. S. Russell, late president of the college at 
Jacksonville, 111., was of one of the first families embracing this 
faith in Cincinnati. He afterward graduated at Bethany Col- 
lege under President Campbell. He was a man of great 
learning, extensive erudition, exemplary life, and surpassing 
Christian spirit. Before his death he wrote as follows : 

president russell's statement. 

"A number of the friends of the Reformation, having, for 
some years past, been convinced of the prevalence of grave 
errors in the denomination called 'Christians,' or 'Disciples 
of Christ,' and known as the 'Reformation' ; and, notwith- 
standing these convictions, having endeavored to live in 
church union and cooperation with members still holding 
these errors, we are now, after having patiently tried such 
experiment, convinced that the differences between us are so 
important as to preclude that cooperation and union of effort 



254 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

which is essential to the church's prosperity. That all may 
judge of the truth of this declaration, we make the following 
statement of our differences. But in order that justice may be 
done to all parties, as well as that our own position may be 
distinctly defined, we will first state in what particulars we 
agree with the body to which we have belonged. We believe 
the following points of church order and practice, which pre- 
vail in the Reformation, to be scriptural, and for this reason 
we have no desire to change them : 

"(1) We accept the title of 'Christian/ or 'Disciples of 
Christ,' as the name worn by the first followers of our Lord. 

"(2) We receive the Bible as the only rule of faith and 
practice ; its facts, truths, duties, and promises being the only 
authoritative guide of the believer and the church. 

"(3) We believe that the scriptural test of the fitness of a 
person for baptism is the sincere confession of faith in Jesus as 
the Son of God. 

"(4) That the ordinance of baptism is administered by 
immersion. 

"(5) That the Lord's Supper should be eaten every Lord's 
day by all who believe themselves to be the Lord's people. 

"(6) That the local church is independent; that is, not 
under the jurisdiction of any other church or association of 
churches. 

"(7) That each church is rightly constituted when having 
a plurality of elders, and restricting the duties of deacons to 
the temporal concerns of the church. 

" But we are convinced that the Reformation is in error in 
the following points : 

"(1) It does not take the teachings of the whole Bible as 
its guide in preaching the gospel to sinners and instructing the 
church. But it restricts itself to certain passages in order to 
make out a consistent theory, and the result is the presentation 
of a one-sided and fractional view of the truth, and, in frequent 
instances, instead of accepting the plain and obvious sense of 
the Word, it holds to the glosses and paraphrases of human 
reason, and relies upon the writings of certain prominent men 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 255- 

— appealing to 'our views' (to use the current phraseology) 
and the 'views of the Reformation,' instead of to the Bible. 
This we charge as a grave departure from the original funda- 
mental principle of the church — that the Bible is the only 
rule of faith and practice — and as the source of the subsequent 
errors. In what particulars we understand this statement to 
be true will appear from the following specifications : 

"(2) We strongly dissent from the generally accepted doc- 
trine of the Reformation, that in the conversion of sinners the 
Spirit of God exerts his influence only through the written or 
preached Word ; and also, from the view held, we have reason 
to believe, by the large majority of the church, that in the 
sanctification of believers the Spirit acts only through the 
Word. Our understanding of the Bible teaching is that the 
Word is the instrument in both conversion and sanctification^ 
but the Spirit is the agent, acting directly upon the heart, in 
order to the attainments of these gracious results. 

"(3) We have felt in our own experience, and seen in ob- 
serving the practice of others, that the effect of the Reformation 
view above stated is to forbid sinners praying for themselves,, 
and others praying in their behalf, in order to their conversion. 
Indeed, these godless views have often been openly preached. 
This view also has led members of the church to so undervalue 
the power of prayer — indeed, inducing skepticism as to God's 
answering prayer — as to result in a general neglect of hearty, 
faithful prayer in private, in the family, and in the public 
assembly. These evils, which we think are obvious to every 
impartial observer of Reformation churches, we deeply deplore, 
and feel it our duty to shield ourselves from their disastrous 
influence upon our spiritual life and upon the genuine con- 
version of the sinner ; and we take steps to so guard our souls 
only after having used all reasonable efforts to dissuade from 
these errors those with whom we have been associated. 

"(4) We have been impressed with the fact that the great 
scriptural truth of justification by faith is mutilated and weak- 
ened in the hands of the Reformation, by their giving undue 
prominence, in their preaching to unbelievers, to the ordinance 



256 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

of baptism, thus fostering reliance upon the merit of human 
works, and making salvation to be not of grace but of debt. 
From this we dissent, for while we believe that the ordinance 
of baptism should be solemnly and prayerfully administered to 
every one believing in Christ with all his heart, yet we believe 
that the vital, unencumbered truth which it concerns the sin- 
ner to have singly fixed in his mind is that of justification 
through faith in Jesus. 

"(5) We disagree with the Reformation when it denies to 
the convert the possibility of his having personal evidence of 
his sins being pardoned, and assurance given through the 
Spirit on condition of faith in Christ and earnest seeking of 
God in prayer. The practical influence of this error is to make 
conversion a superficial work, and is most injurious to the young 
believer and inconsistent with depth of piety in the church. 

"(6) Finally, we are convinced that the whole tendency of 
these practical errors is against a devout, joyful, and assured 
religious life, the denial of a religion of the heart's experience, 
and, in any church which tolerates the teaching, deadening to 
the very life-principle of its spiritual activity. 

"It will be perceived from the above statement that those 
points in which we agree with the Reformation are mostly of 
a, formal character, while those in which 'we disagree pertain 
to the living, practical principles of our holy religion ; and 
the history of the Reformation thus far leads us to the con- 
clusion that, while it has succeeded in restoring the simple 
form of primitive church order and practice, it has been drawn 
off from the power of godliness as it existed in the early 
church. Our humble endeavor, under God, is to bring about 
the union of both the power and form of godliness, in order 
to the full restoration of the primitive church to the world." 
("Russell's Statement.") 

It seems to me that such candid concessions from these the 
most eminent, godly, and learned ministers should command 
respect above the ex parte pleadings of leaders whose sole aim 
seems to be to inflate their hearers with partisan pride and 
hinder the union of God's people. We approve of the very 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 257 

Christian, mild, and evangelical tone of President Russell's 
statements, yet we think that he granted too much when he 
said, "The church should eat the Lord's Supper every Lord's 
day," or " The duties of deacons should be restricted to tempo- 
ral concerns," because we read no such things in the Word of 
God. The Christians, however, leave each church independ- 
ent to decide for itself on all such matters. 

71. The thin Bible. Some advocates of this doctrine have 
left the great rock of the whole Bible for the thin, shelving 
stones of fragmentary texts, which to them seem more fre- 
quently immersed. Mr. Campbell, speaking of old Bible truth, 
says : " The proper door into the society of the saints for 
two thousand years was faith. It was constituted in all ages 
the redeeming principle." ("Campbell and Rice Debate," p. 
353.) The New Testament still points to the "door of faith." 
.See the following scriptures : 

Acts 14 : 27, "Opened the door of faith," etc. 

Rev. 3 : 8, "An open door, and no man can shut it," etc 

Rom. 5 : 2, "We have access by faith into," etc. 

Eph. 2 : 9, "Not of works, lest any man," etc. 

But Elder Isaac Everett', in his works on " First Principles," 
says (page 8) : "The Old Testament is not authority. You 
must n °t only come away from the Old Testament, but from 
the gospels likewise, before you can learn what there is in this 
* will.' It was not in force till after Jesus died and rose again, 
and it passed into the hands of the executors." 

Shall we give up so much of the Bible ? No ! Lay it open ! 
Look at it ! Did Christ or his apostles reject all the Old Tes- 
tament ? See Acts 15 : 21. Look at it ! One-seventh only 
left, six-sevenths of the Scriptures gone. The law gone, by 
which is the knowledge of sin ! and the gospels gone, by 
which is the remedy for sin ! and the words of Jesus, the guide 
to heaven, gone ! Jesus' sermons gone ! the great prayer gone ! 
Jesus' glorious example gone ! the "golden rule," the laws of 
marriage and divorce, rules of discipline, blessings on the 
children, all gone ! No, no ! we can't give up the Bible ! 
Mr. Everett's argument is all fallacious. 

17 



258 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

72. But the will. The Testaments are not wills as the wills 
of dying testators. Were they, then the Old Testament was 
never yet in force, as God who made it never died ; were they, 
then the New Testament were not now in force, since Christ 
has come to life ; or if it were in force, then the four gospels,, 
being his will, are now in force. The word diatheke, however, 
is properly rendered "covenant," not "will.'' This covenant 
Jesus confirmed while here, and dying, he sealed it with his 
blood. (Dan. 9 : 27.) But Elder Everett will have Christ's 
executors make his will after Christ is dead. Will Elder 
Everett submit to this rule and have his own executors make 
his will after he dies? I think not ! Christian preachers can- 
not preach a doctrine which requires such reasoning, forcing 
us to reject all the Old Testament, then the gospels, then Christ, 
from his own church while on earth, in order that we may 
exclude salvation from all the earth above high-water mark, 
and next exclude the whole Christian world, except those 
immersed, from pardon. The destruction outweighs the sal- 
vation. The slaughter is too extensive. 

73. A positive precept like baptism is adapted to show the 
loyalty of the subject in obedience, after he is made loyal by 
repentance and obedient by faith. It is called the answer of a 
good conscience toward God, the first response of the converted 
soul. To this, as a positive precept, it is adapted. Repent- 
ance, though it converts, being the effect of conviction, is not 
of itself, like baptism, a proof of voluntary obedience. Yet, 
a bad man may be baptized a hundred times a day with- 
out being made better, but no man can truly repent once 
without being correspondingly better. Therefore the Bible 
agrees with common sense in never exalting baptism to an 
equality with the moral duty of repentance, as illustrated by 
the fact that repentance is constantly connected with salva- 
tion, with or without baptism, but baptism is never connected 
with salvation without repentance or faith. 

74. Do any reply, We are able to prove that baptism is 
equally necessary with repentance by argument? This con- 
cedes the whole ground, for our faith is not to rest in the 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 259 

wisdom or logic of men, but in the Word of God. In all 
argument there is a liability to err. 

The celebrated Acts 2 : 38. The question is not whether we 
may hold that for, in Acts 2 : 38, may mean "in order to." 
We claim the privilege for all of that opinion to hold it until 
convinced of the contrary. But the question is, Do the Scrip- 
tures make this so plain that it is no longer opinion, but faith, 
God's real word, — so that we may safely pronounce all the 
church of God not receiving it as aliens, and those who do 
receive it as the church, casting out the church of four hun- 
dred millions founded 1800 years ago, — "the general assembly 
and church of the firstborn," — and exalting in its place a 
church of half a million founded in the last half century, 
without danger of becoming rebels against God's saints and 
their divine king ? 

75. The preposition for, when connected with the sacrifices 
and ordinances, does not signify "in order to." See the fol- 
lowing texts : 

Mark 1 : 44, " Offer for thy cleansing those things which 
Moses commanded." For thy cleansing, yet the cleansing had 
taken place before, for it is written : u He was cleansed" (See 
verse 42.) Heb. 10 : 6, "Sacrifices for sin" ; verse 8, "offering 
for sin"; verse 12, "sacrifice for sins"; verse 18, "no more 
offering for sin." See also Lev. 4 : 14, 28 ; 5 : 10, 15 ; 14 : 53 ; 
16 : 6, 34 ; 22 : 18 ; Isa. 53 : 10. 

In none of these cases can for mean "in order to." The 
sacrifices were generally offered after the pardon existed in 
fact or promise. After God promised to save Israel the pass- 
over was sacrificed ; after the leprosy was healed the offering 
was made (Lev. 14 : 3) ; after God had given his only begot- 
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should receive 
remission, his blood was poured out ; after our sins are par- 
doned, we drink the cup — the blood shed for many for the 
remission of sins. 

76. We cannot plead that the Greek preposition eis signi- 
fies "in order to." That is neither the meaning of eis or for, 
the Greek or the English in this text. Baptizo eis occurs 



260 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

eleven times in the New Testament, and it never has this 
meaning. Illustration : 

77. Baptizo eis^- all the passages. 

Matt. 3 : 11, "Baptize you with water (eis) unto repentance" 
(not in order to). 

Matt. 28: 19, "Baptizing them in (eis, unto) the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 

Acts 2:38, "Baptized every one of you in the name of 
Jesus Christ, for (eis, unto) the remission of sins." 

Acts 8 : 16, " Baptized in (eis,unto) the name of the Lord Jesus." 

Acts 19 : 3, "(Eis) unto what then were ye baptized" (not in 
order to what)? 

Acts 19:3, "(Eis) unto John's baptism" (not in order to 
John's baptism). 

Acts 19 : 5, "Baptized in (eis, unto) the name of the Lord 
Jesus" (not in order to, for they had it). 

Rom. 6 : 3, "Baptized into (eis, unto) Jesus Christ" (not to 
procure Jesus Christ). 

Rom. 6 : 3, "Baptized into (eis, unto) his death" (not to pro- 
cure his death). 

Rom. 6 : 4, "Baptism into (eis, unto) death" (not in order to 
or to procure death). 

I. Cor. 10: 2, "Baptized (eis) unto Moses" (not to procure 
Moses, whom they had long followed). 

I. Cor. 1 : 13, "Baptized in (eis, unto) the name of Paul" 
(not to procure Paul). 

I. Cor. 12 : 13, "Baptized into (eis, unto) one body"; that is (in 
Greek ev), in one spirit are we all baptized unto one body 
(not to procure it, but to give ourselves to it). 

78. If we insist that the preposition eis, where it follows the 
verb baptize, literally means into, then the same rule requires 
the same rendering where eis follows the verb believe, as 

John 2:23, "Believed eis his name." John 4:39, "Believed eis him." 
John 3 : 15, " Believeth eis him." John 6 : 29, " Believe eis him." 
John 3 : 16, " Believeth eis him." John 7 : 39, " Believeth eis me." 
John 3 : 18, " Believeth eis the Son." John 7 : 48, " Believeth eis me." 
John 6 : 40, " Believeth eis him." Is it unto, in, or in order to ? 
John 7:48, "Believed eis him." 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 261 

If, therefore, eis signifies in order to, and secures that which 
it is in order to, then every man secures Christ by faith, before 
baptism. If it means literally into, then every man enters into 
Christ by faith, before baptism. While, if it means unto, then 
we all reach Christ by faith, before baptism. In any case, 
their own argument inevitably defeats their purpose, eis ad- 
mitting those by faith, and procuring that by faith which they 
would vainly restrict to the baptized. 

The Lexicons and Grammars. The highest Greek authorities 
say, "Ms — into, or unto — is joined with verbs which imply 
rest in a place, when a previous motion to, or into it, is im- 
plied," and " is used in the New Testament to express the point 
arrived at, and consequence of anything without notion of 
purpose." (Liddell & Scott's "Greek Lexicon.") 

"The radical signification is direction toward, motion to, or 
into." (Liddell & Scott.) 

"Each preposition has a fundamental meaning which it 
everywhere retains." (Kuhner.) 

Eis is never rendered "in order to" in the New Testament 
when following any form of the verb "baptize." Scripture 
usage requires us to say "baptized unto," not "in order to," and 
eis should be so rendered everywhere. (See Matt. 3 : 11 ; I. 
Cor. 10 : 2 ; Acts 19 : 3.) 

"Unto what then were ye baptized?" (Acts 19 : 3) signifies 
that we are baptized unto what we profess, dedicating ourselves 
to that which we have already embraced. (I. Cor. 10 : 2 ; 
Matt. 3 : 11.) Eis is often used signifying rest in a place — not 
coming to it. 

Acts 19 : 22, "He himself stayed (eis) in Asia." 
Matt. 12 : 18, "(Eis) in whom my soul is well pleased." 
Mark 14 : 20, "Dippeth with me (eis) in the dish." 
Luke 15 : 17, "When he came (eis) to himself." 
'Mark 14 : 60, "The high priest stood up (eis) in the midst." 
John 20 : 26, Jesus "stood (eis) in the midst." 
Acts 2 : 25, "David speaketh (eis) concerning him." 
Acts 2 : 27, "Thou wilt not leave my soul (eis) in hell." 
Acts 2 : 31, "His soul was not left (eis) in hell." 



262 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Rom. 10 : 12, God "is rich (eis) unto all that call upon him." 
Rom. 10 : 14, "(Eis) in whom they have not believed." 
II. Thess. 2 : 4, "Sitteth (eis) in the temple of God." 
But in every case it will bear to be translated "unto," as in 
Acts 19: 3, "(Eis) unto what then were ye baptized?" Acts 
19 : 3, "(Eis) unto John's baptism" ; even Acts 20 : 21, "Re- 
pentance (eis) toward God (unto God)" ; Acts 24 : 15, "Have 
hope (eis) toward God (unto God)." 

We cannot insist that in Acts 2 : 38, eis must mean, not 
" into" but " in order to," but in Rom. 6 : 3 , it must mean, not 
"in order to," but "into" making it first the only way to 
pardon, then the only door into Christ, ever changing to sus- 
tain our opinion. 

79. As a great king would not, in pardoning his rebellious 
subjects, proclaim an amnesty to all who could walk a mile, 
leap three feet in the air, or perform some difficult task, which 
prisoners, the wounded, sick, aged, and feeble could not do, and 
which, whether they did or not, made them no better or worse, 
so God would not suspend pardon on an act which has no 
virtue in itself, and which is always out of the reach of many 
of the unfortunate, and which the wicked can submit to with- 
out being made better, and the righteous deprived of without 
being made worse. 

80. Jesus says, "By their fruits shall ye know them" ; but 
we cannot see any better fruit in the immersed than in the 
unimmersed. We only know that a man is baptized because 
we see it, or hear of it ; not because the fruits of it make him 
better. The great and good are often unimmersed, yet we 
must confess them Christians, knowing them by their fruits. 
It is our duty to treat them charitably, and teach them that 
baptism is to be added to their other good works. (See 
Matt. 7 : 20.) 

81. Had God designed immersion as the only way to par- 
don, he would have given universal knowledge of the fact, as 
the following scriptures denote : 

John 1 : 9, "That was the true Light, which lighteth every 
man that cometh into the world." 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 263 

Titus 2 : 11, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation 
hath appeared to all men." 

Instead of this, few, even in Christian lands, are able to see 
this way to remission. 

* 82. Immersion in order to remission requires too many 
.human opinions, contrary to the Bible, for its support, as 
follows : 

The opinion that Peter preached the first gospel sermon, and 
that Jesus did not preach the gospel is contrary to : 

Mark 1:1," The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
the Son of God." 

Mark 1 : 14, 15, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gos- 
pel . . . saying . . . repent ye, and believe the gospel." 

Matt. 4: 23, "Jesus went about all Galilee, . . . preaching 
the gospel." 

Matt. 9: 35, "Jesus went about all the cities and villages, 
. . . preaching the gospel." 

Matt. 11 : 5, "The poor have the gospel preached to 
them." 

Matt. 24 : 14, " This gospel . . . shall be preached in all the 
w^orld . . . then shall the end come." 

Matt. 26 : 13, "Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in 
the whole world." 

Therefore, if any other gospel is preached than the gospel 
Jesus preached, it must be preached out of the world, and after 
the end, or without the command of Christ. 

83. As to the opinion that the kingdom was not set up till 
Pentecost, Jesus had said long before Pentecost : 

Matt. 12 : 28, "The kingdom of God is come unto you." 

Luke 16 : 16, "The law and the prophets were until John : 
since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every 
man presseth into it." Said Campbell, "This is more than 
reformation ; it is the kingdom of God that is preached, and 
men are pressing into it," ("Campbell and Rice Debate," 
p. 408.) 

The opinion that there was no church till Pentecost is con- 
trary to — 



264 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Acts 2 : 47, "The Lord added to the church daily." 
Matt. 16 : 18, "Upon this rock I [not you] will build my 
church." 

Matt. 18 : 17, "Tell it unto the church." 
Matt. 18 : 17, "If he neglect to hear the church." 
They could not tell it to the church if there were none. 
Church, from ekklesia, "called out," or JcuriaJcos, "the Lord's," 
signifies such a people as Christ was with. They were dis- 
ciples, converted, baptized, and communing together. They 
were a church. If not, what would be a church ? 

84. The opinion that Jesus' words are of no authority be- 
cause they were uttered before his death, is contrary to com- 
mon sense and the following Scriptures : 

John 12 : 48, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my 
words, ... the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge 
him in the last day." 

Matt. 28 : 20, " Teaching them to observe all things whatso- 
ever I have commanded you." 

Acts 10 : 37, " That word, . . . which . . . began from Gal- 
ilee, after the baptism which John preached." 

Heb. 1 : 1, 2, "God . . . hath . . . spoken unto us by his 
Son." 

Heb. 2:2,3, " The word . . . which at the first began to be 
spoken by the Lord." 

Heb. 12 : 2, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of 
our faith." 

I. Tim. 6 : 3, 4, "If any man teach otherwise, and consent 
not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, ... he is proud." 

85. The opinion that the verbs repent and be baptized (Acts 
2 : 38) must be in order to the same thing, and equally essen- 
tial to salvation, because verbs joined by the conjunction and 
must be in order to the same thing, is contrary to the following 
scriptures : 

Matt. 3 : 5, 6, "They went out to him, . . . and were bap- 
tized'' ; but going and being baptized were not for the same 
thing, nor were they equally essential. 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 265 

Matt. 3 : 13, "Cometh Jesus ... to be baptized" ; but coming 
and baptism were not for the same thing, nor are they equally 
essential to salvation. 

Acts 16: 33, "He . . . washed their stripes; and was bap- 
tized" ; but not for the same thing, nor are washing stripes and 
baptism equally essential to salvation. 

Acts 22 : 16, "Arise, and be baptized" ; but not for the same 
thing, nor are arising and being baptized equally essential to 
salvation. 

86. The opinion that born of water means born of literal 
water, is impossible, as birth always signifies a new growth 
out of the parent by young of the same nature, whereas born 
of water is to be born of what water means when used in the 
Scriptures to represent people. 

Num. 24 : 7, " His seed shall be in many waters." 
Isa. 48 : 1, " Israel, . . . come forth out of the waters of 
Judah." 

Rev. 17 : 15, "The waters which*. . . are peoples, and mul- 
titudes, and nations, and tongues." (See also Prov. 5 : 15-19 
and 9 : 17.) 

87. The opinion that eis in Rom. 6 : 4 must mean into, is 
contrary to John 20 : 3, "Came (eis) to the sepulchre" ; verse 
4, "Came first (eis) to the sepulchre"; verse 5, "Looking in 
. . . yet went he not in" ; verse 6, "Went (eiarjXQev ei$) into 
the sepulchre." 

88. We are set for the defense of the gospel (Phil. 1 : 17) 
and commanded to preach the word ( II. Tim. 4:2) and to 
beware of "philosophy and vain deceit, . . . after the rudi- 
ments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth 
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 2: 8.) We, 
therefore, do not defend doctrines worked out by philosophical 
reasonings, but find all fullness in Christ's "Word." 

89. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of 
God" — not corrupting the Word of God, "nor handling the 
word of God deceitfully." "No prophecy of the scripture is 
of any private interpretation." (I. Pet. 4 : 11 ; II. Cor. 2 : 17 ; 
4 : 2 ; II. Pet. 1 : 20.) 



266 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

90. Therefore, we cannot preach a doctrine which adds to 
the text, "corrupting" it or explaining it "deceitfully" this 
way and that to suit the doctrine, as follows : 

Mark 1 : 44, Make " for " mean for past cleansing. 

Acts 2 : 38, Make "for" mean for future remission. 

Matt. 3 : 11, Make "baptize eis" mean for past repent- 
ance. 

Acts 2 : '38, Make "baptize ds" mean for future remission. 

Rom. 6 : 4, Make "baptism eis" mean unto past death. 

Acts 2 : 38, Make "baptize eis" mean for future remission. 

I. Cor. 10 : 2, Make "baptize eis" mean to Moses, their leader 
before. 

Acts 2 : 38, Make "baptize eis" mean for remission. 

Rom. 6 : 3, "Baptized eis" Christ to mean into Christ. 

I. Cor. 10 : 2, "Baptized eis Moses" to mean not into him at 
all, but only unto him. 

I. Cor. 12 : 13, "Baptized eis (into) one body,"— not to 
bring us into it at all — bu%, 

Rom. 6 : 3, "Baptized eis" Christ, to put us literally into 
Christ, so that we can get into Christ in no other way, in no 
other way iDut on Christ, contrary to — 

Rom. 13 : 14, Where the baptized are yet commanded to 
put on Christ. 

John 3 : 5, Make "born of water" mean baptized in water, 
but in the same, 

John 3 : 5, Make born " of the Spirit " not mean baptized in 
spirit. That is, in the same, 

John 3 : 5, Make the same words exclude the unimmersed in 
water and include those unimmersed in spirit. If the words, 
" Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
enter into the kingdom of God," exclude those not baptized in 
water, they also exclude those not baptized in spirit. 

91. We cannot adopt a system which requires such twist- 
ing and turning this way and that way, giving the same words 
contrary meanings to suit a system, making the same word in 
the same place to mean quite contrary things, as in John 3 : 5, 
"born of water," to mean baptized in water, to save Baptists 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 267 

and condemn Quakers ; but " born of spirit," not to mean bap- 
tized in spirit, lest it should save the Quaker and condemn 
Disciples. 

92. The Bible. In the whole Bible of 66 books, 27,000 
verses, and 773, 697 words, there is no book written to prove 
the doctrine, no verse which states the doctrine, no words 
which say that immersion is in order to remission, is the only 
way to pardon, the only door into the church, the only way to 
get into the kingdom. Of all the inspired writers not' one ever 
wrote this doctrine ! Of all the inspired teachers not one ever 
taught it ! If the doctrine were true, why did not the apostle 
teach it as plainly as Mr. Campbell, and why was not some 
book in the Bible written to prove it before Mr. Campbell's? 
And why is it not as plainly stated there as Mr. Campbell 
could state it ? If baptism were in order to remission, it would 
not be first found in the Catholic creed, and find a place in no 
Bible but the Mormon Bible. 

93. History. The doctrine of immersion in order to con- 
version, remission, exclusion, etc., is almost as unfortunate in 
history as in the Bible. Some have sometimes held some parts 
of the doctrine, but no church of ancient times at any time 
held all the doctrine, as the following extracts demonstrate : 

Josephus, a Jew, or, perhaps, a Jewish Christian, forms a 
connecting link in history between the old Jewish and the in- 
coming Christian church. He wrote before the death of some 
of the apostles. He says : 

"John the Baptist was a good man, and commanded the 
Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness toward each 
other and piety toward God, and so to come to baptism — for 
that the washing with water would be acceptable to him if they 
made use of it, not in order to the putting away or remission of 
some sins only, but for the preparing of the body, supposing 
still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by right- 
eousness." (Josephus, p. 367.) 

Hegesippus, of the second century, was the father of church 
history. He says, " In every city the same doctrine was taught 
which the law and prophets teach." (Home, I., p. 43.) "They 



268 SDMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

all witness that through Christ's name all that believe have 
remission of sins." (Acts 10 : 43.) 

Clement, a.d. 92, of the first century, a living contemporary 
with some of the apostles, says : " The Lord in every age has 
still given place to repentance," etc. " The Ninevites repenting 
of their sin appeased God by their prayers and were saved." 
(Pr. Cor. Chr., L, p. 125.) 

Irenseus, a.d. 178, said: "Our bodies through baptism, but 
our souls through the Spirit, have obtained that communion." 
(Neander, I., p. 646.) "The Lord will judge those who excite 
divisions," "straining in truth at a gnat and swallowing a 
camel." (Neander, I., p. 678.) 

Tertullian, a.d. 194, who lived at the close of the second 
century, and within less than two hundred years of the cruci- 
fixion, says : " It is faith which, in baptism, obtains the for- 
giveness of sin"; and when dissuading 'against haste in 
baptism, he remarks, "true faith, wherever present, is sure of 
salvation." {Neander, I., p. 646.) 

Justin Martyr, a.d. 140 : "Through the bathing, therefore, 
of repentance and of the knowledge of God, which has been 
instituted for the impurity of God's people (as cries Isaiah), we 
believe and make known that this is that baptism which he 
proclaimed, which alone is able to cleanse those who repent, 
that this is the water of life." "For what is the benefit of that 
baptism which makes bright the flesh and the body only. Be 
immersed as to the soul from anger," etc. (Baptizein, p. 128.) 

Cyprian, a.d. 258 : "Outward baptism, considered as to its 
highest end, is a symbol of the inward cleansing." (Neander, 
L, p. 648.) 

Origen, a.d. 252, says : " Baptism, considered as to its true 
end, is a symbol of the inward cleansing of the soul, through 
the divine power of the Logos." (Neander, I., p. 648.) 

Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, a.d. 315-374, says: "Simon 
also the magician . . . was baptized, but was not enlightened ; 
. . . the body went down, indeed, and came up, but the soul 
was not buried with Christ, nor raised with him." (Baptizein y 
pp. 128, 129.) 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 269 

Pagan Notions. Neander says : " Bringing their Pagan 
notions over with them into Christianity, they were seeking in 
baptism a magical lustration which could render them at once 
wholly pure." (Neander, L, p. 252.) 

" Waddington's Church History" says: "By an error com- 
mon in the growth of superstition, the efficacy inherent in 
repentance was attributed to the ceremony," etc. (Wadding- 
ton, p. 46.) 

94. The ancient church did not exclude sprinkled believers, 
as the following extracts prove. 

(1) Novatian was ordained in Rome, a.d. 240. Neander 
says : " He had first made profession of his faith and been 
baptized on a bed of sickness. The Roman clergy had been 
dissatisfied from the first with this procedure, because they 
held to the letter of the church law, which required that no 
individual baptized on a sick bed should receive ordination ; 
but the wiser Fabian ordained him, more according to the 
spirit than the letter of the law, for its object was simply to 
exclude from the spiritual order those who had been induced to 
receive baptism without true repentance." (-Neander, I., p. 238.) 

(2) Eusebius says : "Novatus (Novatian) fell into a griev- 
ous distemper ; and it being supposed that he would die 
immediately, he received baptism, being sprinkled with water 
on the bed whereon he lay." (Eusebius, VII., p. 43.) 

(3) The Greek Church being then dominant even in the 
church at Rome, this proves that no ancient church excluded 
unimmersed believers ; nor can sectarians find an exclusive 
Baptist Church among the Albigenses, or Waldenses, for — 

(4) "The Albigenses . . . rejected baptism ... as in no 
respect essential to salvation." (Mosheim, I., p. 295.) 

(5) "The Waldenses never withdrew from the Catholics," 
but "declared that they would ever continue in communion 
with the Church of Rome" (Mosheim, I., p. 333), consequently 
with unbaptized or sprinkled believers. 

(6) The Baptist 'Church in England, of which Bunyan, or 
" Christian " of " Pilgrim's Progress," was one, had unimmersed 
members, and has to this day. 



270 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

(7) The early Christian churches had unimmersed mem- 
bers, of whom Barton W. Stone, afterward baptized, was one. 

95. Deferring Baptism. Neander, who calls the doctrine 
that baptism " could make them at once wholly pure " a " pagan 
notion," says : " Many put off baptism until they were re- 
minded by mortal sickness, or some other sudden danger, of 
approaching death." (Neander, II., p. 320.) 

It was also a custom generally adopted to defer all baptism, 
except in "cases of necessity, ... to the festivals of Easter 
and Pentecost." (Neander, II., p. 324.) 

Gonstantine the Great embraced Christianity when young, but 
was not baptized till the close of life. Neander says : " It 
must appear surprising that Constantine, although he exhibited 
so much zeal for the concerns of the church, although he took 
part in the transactions of a council (the Council of Nice), 
assembled to discuss matters of controversy, had never as yet 
received baptism. ... It was not the custom for all to receive 
baptism immediately after embracing the faith ; but many, 
especially in the East (in the Greek Church), deferred it until 
some special occasion. . . . Still it must ever seem strange 
that an emperor who took such an interest in the concerns of 
the Christian church should remain without baptism till his 
sixty-fourth year." (Neander, II., p. 28.) 

There is, therefore, no more authority in history than there 
is in the Bible for excluding unimmersed believers from the 
Church. This sectarian doctrine has no Bible, no apostles, no 
fathers, no history, and the time is coming when it will have 
no advocates — when all Christians will be united in one 
glorious church to do God's will in earth as it is in heaven. 

96. It divides God's people contrary to the prayer of Jesus 
(John 17), and causes us to reject humble believers contrary 
to the example of the apostles (Acts 2 : 44) ; it causes us to 
give a different plan of salvation than that at the house of 
Cornelius (Acts 10), and to give a different order of salvation 
than that in Romans 10 ; to answer the' question differently 
from Paul in the only place in all the Bible where it is thus 
plainly asked (namely, Acts 16: 30-33), "Sirs, what must I 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 271 

do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It lessens reliance upon 
repentance, faith, and prayer, and the love of God, and mod- 
ifies conversion, communion with God, and spiritual enjoyment. 

98. When the scriptures denominate all the saved, it is riot 
all the baptized, but all who are fit to be baptized ; namely, all 
that believe. 

Acts 2 : 44, "All that believed were together, and had all 
things common." 

Acts 13 : 39, "All that believe are justified from all things." 

Rom. 3 : 22, "By faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon 
all them that believe ; for there is no difference." 

II. Thess. 1 : 10, "When he shall come to be glorified in his 
saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." 

If baptism were the last step and crowning act of conver- 
sion, then such assurance would not rest on faith, but baptism ; 
since not all that believe, but only baptized believers, could 
claim the promise. All believers includes all before baptized. 

Barton W. Stone, when immersed, said : "We should cul- 
tivate the long-neglected grace of forbearance toward each 
other ; they who should be immersed toward those who were 
not, and vice versa." ("Life," p. 27.) Christian ministers, 
continue this spirit. It is contrary to propriety for Christians 
to reject Christians ! Men have a right to form select societies 
with men of corresponding opinions, and to exclude others ; 
but churches of Christ, or Christian churches, is a sad misno- 
mer for such societies. Yet Campbell says : " I agree with 
the Messenger (that is, Stone), that there will be more Chris- 
tians excluded (calling all Christendom Christians) by 
insisting on this command (be immersed, etc.) than by any 
creed in Christendom." (Harbinger, Y., p. 370 ; C. & R. D., 
p. 771 ; G. & S. 7th Aff.) We pray that God's kingdom may 
come, and that his will may be done on earth as it is in 
heaven ; but we do not suppose that the immersed rule in ■ 
heaven, and exclude all the unimmersed believers there. 

99. Sectarianism and the exclusive creed. Barton W. Stone 
said : " Should they make their own peculiar views of im- 



272 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

mersion a term of fellowship, it will be impossible for them to 
repel, successfully, the imputation of Joeing — 
11 Sectarians, and of having an authoritative 
"Creed of one article at least, which forms their 
"Opinions of truth, and this short creed would 
" Exclude more Christians from union than any 
"Creed with which I am acquainted." (Christian Mes- 
senger.) 

100. Love. The doctrine does not produce the meek, kind, 
and loving spirit of Christ, without which we are none of his. 
The Scriptures make love the line of life. 

John 13 : 35, "By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." 

I. John 3 : 14, "We know that we have passed from death 
unto life, because we love the brethren." 

I. John 4 : 7, "Every one that loveth is born of God, and 
knoweth God." 

I. John 4 : 12, "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, 
and his love is perfected in us." 

Rom. 13: 9, "If there be any other commandment, it is 
briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbour as thyself." 

Rom. 13 : 10, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." 
Love is of God. The spirit of God is a spirit of love. Love 
is the chief grace. To dwell with loving people is like living 
in heaven. Bigotry, with the torch of hate, kindles the fires of 
discord and persecution, but love quenches the flames with 
tears of compassion and binds up the broken heart with the 
bonds of affection. God is good. The spirit of Jesus is the 
spirit of compassion. The true spirit of the church is goodness. 
All over the world we see the fruits of the spirit promoted 
equally by the immersed and the unimmersed. Multitudes of 
unimmersed believers, pressing forward in every good work, 
• bear the image of their Savior. They are our Great Father's 
children, and we cannot cast them off as aliens. We know 
that we were Christians before we were baptized ; and we are 
forced to own them as Christians at the altar, in the pulpit, 



ONE HUNDRED REASONS 273 

and in all good works. To deny this is to deny our conviction 
of right and to act with two-facedness, at the same time own- 
ing and denying that unimmersed believers are Christians. 

DIALOGUE. 

Converted Disciple. — Mr. Summerbell, I have read your 
article on Acts 2 : 38, and give up the doctrine of " immersion 
in order to remission," but still hold that faith precedes repent- 
ance. 

Christian. — I have no objection. I only ask that you will 
not unchristianize those of a contrary opinion. 

Disciple. — No ! With Stone, I give up the exclusive fea- 
ture, yet, put repentance after faith and before baptism. 

Christian. — You do not, except in theory. After a man 
has made an intelligent confession of faith you never require 
or command him to repent as the next step, before baptism, 
but he is baptized as the next step after confession of faith, 
thus omitting repentance. 

Disciple. — But how can a man repent before he believes 
with all his heart? 

Christian. — Quite as readily as he can believe with all his 
heart, while his heart is a wicked impenitent heart of unbelief. 

Disciple.— True ! But can a man repent of lying, cheating, 
swearing, stealing before he believes that he will be rewarded 
for his repentance or pardoned for his crimes? 

Christian. — Yes ; he can if he is convicted. If not con- 
victed, but only repenting for a price, the repentance is 
spurious. What confidence would you have in a man who 
would say, " How can I repent of stealing your purse unless you 
first convince me that you will give me your house? Promise 
me your estate and I will repent ! " 

Disciple. — But he must first believe that he is a sinner. 

Christian. — All men know that, but all have not faith. 

Disciple. — He that cometh to God must believe. 

Christian. — Yes, that is what we teach, that he must repent 
and come believing. 

Disciple. — But how can he repent? 

18 



274 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Christian. — I do not know. But I know that God "com- 
mands all men everywhere to repent," and 'all have not faith." 
Yet the Scriptures do not say, How can he repent ? but, "How 
can ye believe?" (John 5: 45.) And we did not take our 
own "How can," etc., for our rule of faith, but the Word of 
God. Word all your doctrine as it is in the Book, and trust 
the result with God. 

Disciple. — But you quote from the gospels. Did not Jesus 
say the gospel was to begin at Jerusalem ? 

Christian. — No ! He only said that the apostles were to 
begin to preach it there, after his death. He " began " to preach 
it long before in Galilee. (Acts 10 : 37 ; Heb. 2 : 3.) 

Disciple. — How could we be so deceived by our teachers 
when the Word is so plain? 

Christian.- — You were deceived by system-makers, who- 
preach their own opinions for the word of God. If you would 
be a true Christian, adopt the Word of God fully, exercise 
charity, and free yourself from sectarian pride and prejudice. 

True position defined. Let no one say that we reject baptism, 
because we do not make it an institution for sinners, for the 
children of the evil one, for aliens and the unpardoned,, 
going down into the water with a dead faith and all their sins. 
upon them ; because we do not make baptism a part of con- 
version or the shibboleth of a sect ; or because we say with 
Mr. Campbell, "I do not make baptism absolutely essential to> 
salvation in any case." ("Campbell and Rice Debate," p. 519.) 
We think too much of baptism to thrust it outside of the 
church, or to give it up to sinners ; or to force it upon persons, 
contrary to their conviction. We have a better use for bap- 
tism — a use which finds its antitype in the flood, where those 
long righteous committed themselves to God ; and in the 
cloud and the sea, by those long accepted being baptized unto 
Moses ; and in the baptism of Jesus, who forever blessed, yet 
gave himself by baptism up unto the work of the gospel ; and 
in the baptism of the Spirit, which at Pentecost fell upon the- 
apostles. These are examples ! We do not defend willful 
disobedience, careless neglect, or wicked perversion ; but only- 



SUSCEPTIBILITY TO IMPRESSIONS 275 

inability from want of knowledge or opportunity. Willing 
ignorance is ungodliness ; careless neglect is disobedience ; 
presumptive disobedience is rebellion ; and willful perversion 
is infidelity. We only extend charity to those who obey to 
the best of their knowledge and ability, yet come short in 
baptism, as all do in some things. 

Under the influence of the Christian Publishing Association, Dr. Sum- 
merbell transferred the magazine, The Christian Pulpit, to that corpora- 
tion, and resigned the editorship. The purposes of the magazine were 
changed, and not long after, it was discontinued. During his control 
extra volumes were bound, and there are frequent calls for them to this 
time — 1900. 

Notwithstanding the high intellectuality of Dr. Summerbell, he was 
at times wont to yield to passing impressions. On one occasion he was 
traveling, and fell in with some gentlemen of fine ability and standing, 
who seemed to enjoy his conversation. As they were about to leave his 
car for their own, the "sleeper," they asked him to accompany them, 
supposing him to be an occupant of it also. He declined, when it was 
revealed in a pleasant way by him that he could not afford it, whereupon 
the strangers insisted on his accompanying them, saying that his con- 
versation was recompense to them for payment for his berth, on which 
they insisted, and in some skillful manner he was drawn into the better 
car. The talk was resumed where interrupted, and carried on with con- 
tinued interest and brilliancy, serious and humorous. Perhaps hours, in 
the whole, had passed thus pleasantly, when Summerbell, without vis- 
ible cause, seemed to become abstracted and gradually to lose his high 
spirits. His companions at first merely tried to stimulate him, without 
referring in words to his manner. But the soberness of Summerbell 
became obstinate, so that one of the gentlemen spoke of it, asking him if 
he were ill. He replied : 

"No; but I am impressed that there is some great calamity. Perhaps 
it is to my country." 

The gentlemen tried to cheer him, but in vain, so that his manner and 
spirit infected them. Not long afterward, at a station the word was 
brought on board the train that Chicago was burning. 

On July 31, 1872, under the auspices of Elder William Pangburu, Dr. 
Summerbell, began a debate with Rev. Dr. McDill, of the Presbyterian 
Church, at West Union, Adams County, Ohio. Dr. McDill was a gentle- 
man noted for scholarship and ability. The debate was held Friday, 
Saturday, and Monday in the Presbyterian church. 

At Eaton, Ohio, he held a discussion on " Universalism " with Rev. 
S. P. Carleton, of the Universal.ist Church. The questions were the 
following : 

"There will be a future judgment, and punishment after death." 
N, Summerbell affirms, S. P. Carleton denies. 



276 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"In the future all men will be immortal, holy, and happy." S. P. 
Carleton affirms, N. Summerbell denies. 
The following appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial: 



REV. DR. SUMMERBELL'S SERMON ON THE ANGELS. 
r 

Delivered at Bible Chapel. 

Text — Luke 20: 36, " Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the 
angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." 

God is the great Spirit-father of all intelligences. Some are men, 
and some are angels or heavenly messengers. The Hebrew word 
malak signifies ' ' a servant " ( Gre,ek, aggelos, ' ' a messenger " ) . The 
early Christians regarded them as having bodies in the human form, 
but of finer and spirit material, not subject to gravitation. They eat 
("angels' food") to increase holiness — not to support life. They 
breathe, not to exist, but to inhale happiness, and use the air as a 
means of sound in speech. Their hearts beat in pulsations of love. 
They shouted for joy at creation. They long desired to look into and 
understand the gospel. They rejoice over the conversion of sinners, 
and lament the suffering of saints. 

Called gods. — They are called gods where we read, "Ye shall be 
as gods"; God "judgeth among the gods"; Christ was "made a 
little lower than the gods"; "Thou God seest me"; "I am the God 
of Bethel" ; " Malak, Jehovah." They were called gods, not because 
of the nature of God, but only as inhabitants of heaven. 

Creation. — They existed before men, as then "they shouted for 
joy," and cherubim guarded the tree of life. They are the native 
citizens of heaven, the domestic servants of God. 

Bank. — They, in nature, stand next to God and the divine Son, 
both of whom they worship and serve. In his original nature, Christ 
is above them, but was made lower. He took not on him the nature of 
angels, but the seed of Abraham. But Christ is now above them, as 
the Son of God restored to more than his original glory, and the 
saints have the promise of becoming equal to the angels. 

They have power to bless, and are often named with God and the 
Son. Thus grace is invoked from God and Christ, and from the 
seven spirits before the throne. (Rev. 1:4.) Christ says that he 
will come in the glory of the Father and of the "holy angels," and 
be revealed from heaven with his "mighty angels." Saint Paul says, 
"I charge thee before God and the elect angels," and Christ promises 
to confess us before the ' ' holy angels. " Jacob said, ' ' The angel which 
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." Isaiah says, "The angel 
of his ( God's ) presence saved them : in his love and in his pity he 
redeemed them." 



ANGELS 277 



ANGELS. 



Michael seems to be the greatest. He is called the archangel, and 
his name signifies "like God 1 '; Gabriel signifies "mighty God' 1 ; 
cherubim, "like the powerful ones"; seraphim, "the shining ones." 
These are of the nobility of heaven's court, exalted above all the 
rest. The cherubim are alluded to as " chariots of God, . . . twenty 
thousand, even thousands of angels.' 1 The "angel of the Lord" is 
often called God and Jehovah, because he represents God. Most 
ministers think that he is Christ. 

THE ANGEL'S PRAYER. 

An angel prayed for the people during a severe affliction. His 
prayer was, "O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy 
on Jerusalem . . . against which thou hast had indignation these 
threescore and ten years ? " And the Lord heard and answered in 
mercy. (Zech. 1: 12.) They often act as servants of men. The 
law was "ordained by angels," the Old Testament was "spoken by 
angels," and they were constantly ascending and descending the 
heavenly ladder on errands of mercy. 

An angel found Hagar and preserved Ishmael ; an angel preserved 
Isaac ; an angel taught Jacob how to wrestle for victory ; an angel 
taught Joshua how to fight ; an angel guided Moses ; an angel smote 
the infidel army ; angels ministered to Christ in the wilderness, and 
strengthened him in Gethsemane; an angel opened the sepulcher; 
an angel delivered St. Peter from prison and guided St. Paul; an 
angel found St. John on Patmos, and delivered to him the words of 
Jesus; an angel will bind the dragon, and angels will gather the 
harvest of the world. Even now the angels of the Lord camp around 
about his saints, for they are ministering spirits, sent forth to minis- 
ter to the heirs of salvation, for he hath given his angels charge 
concerning thee. Let us, therefore, trust in God, whose servants 
they are, and so live that we may by and by be equal to the angels, 
and minister to others, and with them enjoy the glory of God. The 
doctrine of the angels was announced in Christ's natal morn. It was, 
' ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men." The angels' doctrine is the heavenly statement of the gospel, 
and contains the very essence of truth as it is in Jesus. Consider 
the contrast between angels and men. The former, how pure ! how 
holy ! how kind. They of old desire to look into the gospel, and now 
rejoice at the conversion of sinners. They are the guardians of virtue 
and ministers of mercy, while men cultivate everj^ vice, and glory in 
fraud and sin. Let every contemplation of the corruption of the 
present times make you all long to be more and more like the angels, 
and less and less like wicked men. The promise is sure. You shall 
be equal to the angels ; the crown is before you ; the prize is in sight. 



^J8 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Thousands of angels watch your progress ; millions of angels rejoice 
in your triumph over sin. Be of good courage, and you shall soon 
be 1 equal to the angels. In order that you may be, listen not to men, 
but to Jesus, and learn every lesson of his holiness. Consider that 
time is short and very uncertain ; but if you trust in him, the reward 
is sure, boundless, and eternal. 

In 1874 he edited from the MSS. of the author the "Autobiography of 
Elder Matthew Gardner." 

In 1874 he secured for the succession to himself in the pastorate of the 
church at Cincinnati a brilliant young minister by the name of E. C. 
Abbott, he himself having determined to accept a call to the church at 
Conneaut, Ohio. Mr. Abbott began his work with fine prospects of use- 
fulness personally, and of success for the church ; but a lack of persist- 
ence marked his effort, he suddenly accepted a call to another field, and 
the church was lost. 

Though Dr. Summerbell's work at Conneaut was delightful and 
exceedingly vigorous and active, he did not discontinue his habit of 
writing for the press, and we quote some of the productions of this 
period. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of March 6, 
1875: 

SCOLD, SCOLD. 

Scold, scold, scold away ; 

Scold, scold, scold I say. 

Man or woman, young or old, 

If you can't do more, just scold ! 

Day and night, and night and day, 

Early, late, and every way ; 

When you work, or preach, or pray, 

Scold, scold, scold away. 

Thus the time pass pleasantly, 

And death less terrible will seem 

When beneath the scolder's scream. 

If you for the paper write, 

Let it be your first delight ; 

Any subject to make bold, 

First of all, begin to scold ! 

Tell how weak and poor we are, 

How sectarian ! Don't care 

For truth, but lay it bare ; 



SCOLDING 279 

Tell how little 't is we give ; 

Wonder how it is we live ! 

Wound your friends, and tell their woes, 

Please your enemies and foes, 

Tell how little 't is we do 

In the church or Sunday school ; 

Make it an unchanging rule — 

Scold in everything you do. 

Ever grumbling like a bear, 

Grunting, grumbling, everywhere ; 

Scold your husband, if a woman, 

Till he wishes you in heaven ; 

Scold your children, hired men, 

Just take breath, and scold again ! 

Scold the brethren, scold the church, 

Blow and bluster, storm like March ; 

Whether you are young or old, 

You can do it — you can scold ! 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

•Conneaitt, Ohio. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 15, 

1875: 

"CHAINING THE DRAGON." 

" Chaining the dragon ! " 

Say it again ; 
Let all, men remember, 

That all may explain. 

The beast of Apocalypse, 

Dragon or man, 
Has life or relapse, 

As popes suffer or reign. 

Whatever is said 

Of the beast or the dragon, 
Or serpent, is said 

Of the proud pontiff Dagon : 



280 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The great man of sin, 

Now living in Rome, 
With his queen, the proud church, 

In the old dragon's home. 

These are the parents, 

As known by their deeds ; 
The daughters are those 

Who adhere to the creeds. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 
The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 5, 1875 ; 
DISCIPLES DESPERATE. 

E. E. Orvis, the editorial oracle, calls N. Summerbell to account 
for saying, "they (Disciples) narrow the authoritative Scriptures 
down to the Acts of the Apostles, or, at most, to the Acts, Epistles, 
and Revelation," and says of said Summerbell, "He knew the above 
statement to be false." 

Reply. Isaac Errett, their ablest editor, states in his ' ' First Prin- 
ciples," page 8: "The Old Testament is not authority. You must 
not only come away from the Old Testament, but from the Gospels 
likewise." This leaves no authoritative Scriptures except the "Acts, 
Epistles, and Revelation," just as Summerbell stated. I do not 
accuse Orvis of knowing that his statement was false ; but all who 
know the "system," know my statement to be true. Admit the 
whole Bible and Orvis would give up in disgust. See the following : 

Illustrations. Orvis says (May 8, 1875) : " There is no require- 
ment for sinners to make confession of their sins to God. Why 
should they be required to do this ? Does not God know all about 
their sins? This idea that the sinner must confess Ins sins to God 
had its origin in paganism." 

Reply. "Make confession unto the Lord God." (Ezra 10:11.) 
"I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord." (Psalms 32: 5.) 
"O Lord, ... we have sinned against thee." (Dan. 9:8.) Jesus 
taught us to confess, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in 
thy sight." (Luke 15:21.) Now read Orvis's words above again, 
and notice how plainly they contradict the "Thus saith the Lord!" 
The confession should be, first, to those against whom we have 
sinned ; second, to those who can pardon. We have especially sinned 
against God, and God can pardon ; therefore, we should make special 
confession to God. (See Romans 10 : 10, 11 and I. John 2 : 1.) But 
as papal priests stand between the sinner and God, requiring confes- 
sion to men, so Disciples stand in the way, and say, Go not to God 
but to us. 



IMMERSION INTO 281 

Brother Orvis calls Summerbell some hard names, but does not 
examine my saying, that there is not one opinion peculiar to Camp- 
bellism that they can word in Bible language. N. Summerbell. 

SECTARIAN TRANSLATIONS. 
MERRITT TO SUMMERBELL. 

"Is the following, by A. Campbell, a correct translation of Matt. 
3 : 11, 'I indeed immerse you in water into reformation," etc. 

"J. G. MERRITT." 

Reply. No. The word ' ' immerse " I think correct as a Baptist 
translation of baptizo; but "into reformation" is no translation at 
all, but simply thrusting human opinions into the Bible in place of 
the word of God. The word of God there reads thus, eis metanoian, 
and is correctly translated in our common version as follows, " Unto 
repentance." 

Explanation. John preached the necessity of a change of heart. 
"He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart 
of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with 
a curse." (Mai. 4:6.) When impenitent Jews came to be baptized 
he rebuked them, saying, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for 
repentance : and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abra- 
ham to our father ; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones 
to raise up children unto Abraham. 1 ' (Matt. 3:8, 9.) The truly 
converted came as follows, namely, "confessing their sins" (Matt. 
3:6), giving proof of true repentance by the "fruits meet (or suit- 
able ) for repentance, " confessing their sins. And these John baptized 
unto repentance; that is, sealed them, dedicated them, consecrated 
them to the repentance which they professed, by publicly baptizing 
them. 

Eis is translated variously, as follows: "Against," as against the 
Holy Ghost; against heaven. "To," as, "Wise men from the east 
to Jerusalem." "Unto," as unto repentance, unto John's baptism, 
baptized unto Moses, etc. "In," as, "In whom my soul is well 
pleased." It occurs (John 20 : 1-4) where Peter and John came eis 
the sepulchre, but went not in, but (verse 6) where they went in it is 
eiselthen. It occurs in all those places translated "in" where Jesus 
speaks of our believing "in" him and "on" him. One who desires 
to speak correctly should never say "baptized into," unless in quoting 
others. "Into reformation" is equally incorrect. We cannot be 
baptized into reformation. Metanoian, the original, is from meta, 
which signifies after, and noeo, which signifies to mind, and means 
after-mind, or the later and better mind — as we say, after- thought, 
and is correctly enough translated "repentance." Roman Catholics, 
to avoid repentance, translate it "do penance." Those sectarians 



282 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

who chang3 the Bible to suit their own opinions, also to avoid repent- 
ance, also translate it "reformation." The philosophy of repentance 
is in its godly sorrow for sin, which leads to reformation. Both 
phrases are correct when understood thus, "Baptized unto," "repent 
and do"; as, repent and "believe," and "turn," and "be baptized," 
and "pray," etc. 

Enough. Our old translation is much better than new sectarian 
translations, which are worse. N. Summerbell. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 12, 
1875: 

A FEW CORRECTIONS. 

Jesus did not eat the Passover, or "Lord's Supper," the night he 
washed the disciples 1 feet, as all may see from the following : 

1. The feet-washing supper was before the Feast of the Passover : 

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour 
was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, hav- 
ing loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the 
end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart 
of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the 
Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from 
God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his gar- 
ments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth 
water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe 
them with the towel wherewith he was girded. ( John 13:1-5.) 

2. After this supper, they still thought of buying things for the 
Passover : 

He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus 
answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. 
And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son 
of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus 
unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew 
for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, 
because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those' 
things that we have need of against the feast ; or, that he should give 
something to the poor. He then having received the sop went imme- 
diately out : and it was night. 

Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man 
glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God 
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. 
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me : and 
as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come ; so now I say to 
you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; 
as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all 
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 
(John 13:25-35.) 

You see they would not think that Judas was commanded to "buy 
for the feast" (verse 29), if they had already eaten it. 

3. Judas became offended at the supper given by Simon six days 
before the Passover : 



FEET WASHING AND THE LORD'S SUPPER 283 

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 
there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious 
ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his 
disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this 
waste ? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to 
the poor. When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble 
ye the woman ? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye 
have the poor always with you ; but me ye have not always. For in 
that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. 
Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the 
whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told 
for a memorial of her. 

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief 
priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver 
him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of 
silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him. 
{Matt. 26:6-16.) 

You see from this time ( six days ) he sought opportunity. 

4. This opportunity was found after the feet-washing supper, for 
then Jesus said : 

Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son 
of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief 
priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of 
the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and cousulted that they might 
take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast 
day, lest there be an uproar among the people. ( Matt. 26:2-5.) 

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief 
priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver 
him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of 
silver. ( Matt. 26:14, 15.) 

5. The Lord's Supper was eaten after dark, or at even. (Matt. 
26:20; Mark 14:17.) Particular note is made of this, as before 
night would have been one day before the time of the Passover. But 
the feet washing was before dark : 

Now T no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto 
him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus 
had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the 
feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. He then having 
received the sop went immediately out : and it was night. ( John 
13:28-30.) 

These reasons make it clear that as John gives no account of Jesus' 
birth, or circumcision, or baptism, so also he gives no account of the 
communion or last supper. N. Summerbell. 

Conneaut, Ohio. 

CORRECTIONS. 

Close communion cannot shelter itself behind Jesus, for Jesus did 
not forbid even Judas. Notice after supper, — that is, after the Pass- 
over supper, when he instituted the communion, — he said, even after 
the bread and the cup had been passed : ' ' The hand of him that 
betrayeth me is with me on the table." (Luke 22 : 21.) 



284 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this pass- 
over with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more 
eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took 
the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among your- 
selves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until 
the kingdom of God shall come. 

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto 
them, saying, This is my body which is given for you : this do in remem- 
brance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is 
the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. 

But, behold, the hand of him that betray eth me is with me on the 
table. (Luke 22: 15-21.) 

Now, if the blessed Jesus could let Judas eat with him, what am I 
that I must exclude the brethren ? 1ST. Summerbell. 

ALBERT BARNES ON CHRIST. 

Albert Barnes teaches that Christ was subordinate to the Father 
in his divine nature before he came into the world, and will be after 
the end of the world. Is this correct ? Is it orthodox ? 

N. Summerbell. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 14, 
1875: 

THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

I admire the excellently written article of Elder James Williamson 
on "The Holy Ghost." There is so much good in it that I advise a 
careful reading of it. Yet there are one or two minor points which 
are not so clear, and I ask Brother Williamson to make them a little 
plainer. I might attempt it ; but why should I take the work out of 
hands in every way competent? 

Williamson. — The Holy Spirit — "exercising a will of his own." 
"He {ekeinos) will show you," etc., implies will and purpose in the 
highest sense — "an intelligent agent of divine attributes," etc., 
"embraced in the indivisible {to Theion) the divinity.*' 

Summerbell. — If you mean that the Holy Ghost is a person, a third 
person, or another person beside the Father, then is not this other 
person of supreme will, agency, and attributes the Father of Jesus, 
as per Luke 1:35? Is it your opinion that Jesus understood that 
this personal Holy Ghost, whom he spake of giving and sending, and 
as not seeking his own glory, and as otherwise subordinate, was his 
own Father? 

Again, if the Holy Ghost be a person, distinct from God the 
Father, and yet supreme, # is it not remarkable that so little is said of 
his worship in the Bible ; and that Jesus never taught us to pray to 
him ; and that no one gives any account of seeing him as a person in 
heaven with the Father and the Son ; and that he is never included in 
the doxologies there, — but only seen, if seen at all, as seven spirits, or 
seven lamps, or seven eyes? Remember, I do not bate one jot or tittle 
of your worthy praise to the Holy Spirit, but to me it seems as a Spirit^ 



THE HOLY SPIRIT 285 

related to the Father as my spirit is to me, as St. Paul says : ' ' The 
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man 
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? 
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. " ( I. 
Cor. 2 : 10, 11.) And therefore the Spirits personality is in God, and 
its presence with us is as the presence of the sun, by its light and heat. 
Brother Williamson's excellent remarks on "confounding divine 
qualities, etc., with the essence itself, which is the same in the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost,' 1 1 commend to all as wise and well timed. His 
style of exceeding correctness, tempered with remarkable modera- 
tion, and boldness for truth, tipped with constantly apparent caution 
against error, always rendered Brother Williamson a deeply inter- 
esting and profitable writer. N. Sodierbell. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 
28, 1875 : 

DO THE ANGELS SING? 

Do the angels sing ? Of course they do ! "Why not ? Because 
the Christian Weekly sought through and through the Bible, listen- 
ing at every crook and turn to hear them sing, but not a note fell on 
his ear — of angels' songs ! When I saw it, I ran direct to Revelation 
City, Fifth Street, No. 11, "and I heard the voice of many angels 
round about the throne."' Then I came nearer, stopping at No. 8, 
and saw — now, mark me well — "the four beasts and four and 
twenty elders," with "harps and golden vials," and "they [the four 
beasts — that is, four great angels — and four and twenty elders] [at 
No. 10 I could hear them very plainly J sung a new song." "And I 
heard the voice [then] of many angels," singing as "when the morn- 
ing stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." 
(Job 38: 7.) Then rob us not of angels' heavenly songs, or holy 
triumphs in the skies. They sing the songs of the redeemed, teach- 
ing the saints new songs, set to heavenly melodies, and accompani- 
ments of heavenly harps, with vials full of odors sweet and prayers 
of saints. 

"Do the angels sing?" one said, 

Who had many a chapter read; 
"Do the angels sing around the throne of God?" 

Then they answered from on high, 

Filling earth, and sea, and sky, 
As ten thousand thousand angels sang to God; 

Loud, loud, louder came the chorus; 

Hark ! hark ! salvation is the theme ! 

Morning stars together sang 

When creation first began: 
Now the sons of God all shout aloud for joy ! 



286 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

'Tis the angels round the throne, 

And the living creatures join 
With the four and twenty elders when they sing. 

They have harps with tunes untold, 

They have vials all of gold 
Full of odors, with the prayers of saints they bring. 

Loud, loud, louder came the chorus; - 

Hark ! hark ! salvation is the theme ! 

Morning stars together sang 

When creation's work began, 
Now the sons of God all shout aloud for joy. 

Every creature, low or high, 

In the earth, and sea, and sky, 
Yes, ten thousand times ten thousand thousand more, 

All rejoice while they sing, 

And the heavenly offerings bring, 
And the voices come from every starry shore. 

Loud, loud, louder comes the chorus; 

Hark ! hark ! salvation is the theme ! 

Morning stars together sang 

When creation first began, 
Now the sons of God all shout aloud for joy. . 

N. SlJMMERBELL. 

In the same issue appeared the following : 

WE HAVE GODS ENOUGH. 

One God of infinite excellence, power, wisdom, glory, goodness, 
justice, and every possible perfection in infinite fullness, rich toward 
all that call upon his name, is able to satisfy all the longings of the 
reasonable human soul after gods ; since one God of infinite power, 
wisdom, and goodness comprehends, bounds, extends beyond, is more, 
and higher, and deeper, broader, and stronger, and wiser, and better 
than ten thousand times ten thousand gods and thousands of thou- 
sands of gods who are plural, and equal, and derived, and made, and 
proceeding, and second and third in rank, and limited and depend- 
ent; — just as one infinite space is infinitely extensive beyond all 
planets, moons, satellites, suns, or stars and worlds, and all conceiv- 
able limits, centers, or circumferences , or, just as eternity is infinitely 
more than all ages, dooms, dispensations, or possible length of time 
durations, and comprehends and bounds them all. To long for 
other gods, besides the true God, is therefore more unwise than to 
long for and believe in several infinite spaces or several eternities of 
duration. Also, as two spaces that are equal are neither of them 
infinite, and two durations that are limited and equal are neither of 



ONE GOD ENOUGH 287 

them eternal, so beings who are equal, are neither of them infinite — 
neither of them God in the true sense of that word. There is but 
One — blessed be his name, — but One revealed in the Bible or known 
in nature, who is self -existent, underived, independent over all, and 
above all. That is the God who so loved the world that he gave his 
only -begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life. This God sent not his Son into the world 
to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be 
saved. If there were more gods than one, therefore, God could not 
be independent, because each should, could, and would have sufficient 
respect to the will of the other to be in some measure governed, 
bounded, and dependent upon the other will in its actions. If there 
were more gods than one, therefore, each would limit and hinder the 
free volition of the other, and, being thus dependent or limited, none 
could have infinite perfections. The Bible makes the true God to be 
him who is the self -existent Father of all, "God that made the 
world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and 
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; neither is wor- 
shipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he 
giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." "One God and Father 
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." "For of 
him, and through him, and to him are all things : to whom be glory 
for ever. Amen. " 

The infidel who shuts his eyes to this God, has no God, for there is 
no other being or God in the universe of nature, or philosophy, or 
thought, or imagination, or in the heavens, or in the earth, or in 
creeds or theologies of men, in height or depth, or extent of space, 
but that is dependent on this God for existence, and life, and all 
things. 

PRAYER. 

O God, most merciful Father, thou God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, our Creator, preserver, and benefactor, help me to wor- 
ship thee. As the follower of thy dear Son, help me to obey his word 
and worship "thee, the only true God." Give me grace to withstand 
popular idolatry, ever the besetting sin of thy people. Bestow upon 
me largely of thy Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth, and comfort 
and sanctify and bless me. Help me never to change the truth of 
God into a lie, and worship and serve the creature more than the 
Creator, but help me to be a true disciple of thy Son, to learn my 
lessons of him, and help me to follow him in perfect holiness forever. 
What I ask for myself I ask for all, in Jesus' name. Amen. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of December, 
11, 1875: 



288 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

THE GLORY OF GOD. 

"Brother Rush: Will Brother Summerbell explain the follow- 
ing scriptures so as to make them harmonize: 'And there came a 
voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.' 
(Luke 9 : 35.) And : 'And the Father himself, which hath sent me, 
nath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any 
time, nor seen his shape.' (John 5 : 37.) It is claimed by some that 
the texts contradict each other. By explaining you will oblige many 
who are not conversant with the Scriptures. J. W. Kendall." 

REPLY. 

There is no contradiction. Peter, James, and John were all who 
were with Jesus on the mount when the words in Luke were spoken 
from the cloud, while John 5 : 37 was spoken to unbelieving Jews, 
who of course had not heard the voice. See the next verse : "Ye 
nave neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And 
ye have not his word abiding in you : for whom he hath sent, him ye 
believe not." (John 5 : 37, 38.) Consider further the 

CHARACTER OF GOD. 

God is invisible. 

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise 
God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." "The blessed and 
only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords ; who only hath 
immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto ; 
whom no man hath seen, nor can see." (I. Tim. 1 : 17; 6 : 15.) "No 
man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, which is in 
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." "No man hath 
seen God at any time." "Who is the image of the invisible God, 
the firstborn of every creature." (John 1:18; I. John 4: 12; Heb. 
11:27; Col. 1:15.) 

If now we look back in the Old Testament we find these scriptures 
corroborated there, as follows : 

"Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and 
live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou 
shalt stand upon a rock : and it shall come to pass, while my glory 
passeth by, that I will pat thee in a cleft of the rock, and Avill cover 
thee with my hand while I pass by : and I will take away mine hand, 
and thou shalt see my back parts [or waning glory], but my face 
shall not be seen." (Ex. 33 : 20-23.) 

Therefore God said, " Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves ; 
for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake 
unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. " ( Deut. 4:15.) Much 
of the impotence of Christians in the present day is deducible from 
idolatry. Had they kept in mind that God is he who is without 
origin, birth, or creation ; without father or mother ; who never prays, 
worships, gives thanks, or asks favors, but gives to all life and breath 
and all things ; had they kept in mind that it is he who is not tangible 
to our senses; is invisible; whom no mortal eyes have seen; who 
spake to our fathers by holy angels and prophets, and who speaks to 
us by his Son — if men had realized this they would not have fallen 
into the fatal error of multiplying gods, which, notwithstanding its 
fashionable popularity and the immense wealth and learning com- 
pelled to glorify or excuse it, is, I fear, mortal sin. We cannot serve 
God and Mammon. God's character is sacred. The sin against the 



ERRORS AND CREEDS 289 

Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness ; and what can be a greater sin 
than, as St. Paul says, "to change the glory of the incorruptible God 
into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds." (Rom. 
1 : 23.) Do you ask, Why, then, are not Unitarians more prospered 
who teach the simple unity of God? I reply: The Unitarians are 
more philosophers than Christians. They believe not so much in 
Christ as in criticism, They think not so much of salvation as pre- 
vention. Their best men are rather gentlemen than saints; schol- 
ars than Scripturians. Do you ask, Should we not, then, have all 
faith in the trinitarians? I answer. No. Have faith in God. As an 
''arianism," trinit-arianism is nO better than Unitarianism, or any 
other k ' arianism. " The majority of the trinitarians are Roman Catho- 
lics, who have flooded the world with idolatry, persecution, cruelty, 
sin, and depravity. Why, then, you ask, are not we more blest? 
Because we are not true to our mission. We do not trust in God 
enough. What pandering to popularity ! What f earf ulness of the 
simple truth of God's word ! How little repugnance to popular efforts 
to degrade the Supreme Being to the level of those who owe to him 
life and breath and all things — who pray to and worship him! How 
many not only fellowship errorists, but fight any prophet of God who 
ventures to reprove idolatry ! When we consider this, it is not hard 
to account for the absence of miracles. No ; I fear that we are not 
innocent of the great transgression. Be not deceived. Protestantism 
exists to-day, politically, barely by the sufferance of papists, and 
trembles before popery. God may save it by merciful provision, but 
it is apparently upon the brink of a fearful precipice, trembling to 
Hall. Its many-fingered faith inspires no enthusiasm; its legion of 
creeds no faith; its endless divisions no confidence. Count the 
Roman Catholic nations and the Protestant in Europe and America, 
and you will cease to wonder that every tide of immigration that 
flows upon our coast leaves myriads of Catholics. If they come from 
Italy they are Catholics; from Ireland, they are Catholics; from 
Portugal, they are Catholics ; from Spain, they are Catholics ; from 
Central or South America, they are Catholics; from Prussia or 
Canada, they are probably Catholics. When Protestantism first 
started, then it prospered — prospered because it took the Word of God 
alone, and had adopted no fundamental error. Had it continued true 
to God and his Word, then Trench, the great teacher of scholars, 
never had written the following : 

"There was a time, some five and twenty or thirty years after 
Luther had begun to preach, when Austria, and Bavaria, and Syria, 
and Poland, arid, in good part, France had all been won for the 
Reformation. Thirty years more had not elapsed when they were 
all lost again, and it was confined within the narrower limits which it 
occupies at the present day, this door, once open, having been closed 
mainly through the guilt of those contests — among the reformers 
themselves.' 1 ("Trench on the Seven Churches," p. 311.) 

That is, just as while for three hundred years the church' at first 
was true to one God and to one creed (the Bible), it conquered the 
world ; but after the Roman State Church was established, with many 
gods and many creeds, it cursed the world and drove true Christians 
to the dens and caves of the earth; so while for twenty years the 
reformers had but one creed, the Bible, and one God, they swept 
popery from much of Europe ; so when they multiplied their gods and 
their creeds they were driven back to the narrow limits over which 
they mourn, and popery is driving the Bible from the schools, and 
threatens soon to extinguish the last spark of religious liberty. I 

19 



290 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

hope for the best ; but when I see how little biblical truth is regarded,, 
I fear the just judgments of God ; that he will not cease barely by 
withdrawing from the popular church the l ' gifts of the Spirit, " without 
which St. Paul compares the church to a body without hands, or feet, 
or eyes, or ears (I. Cor. 12), but I fear that the candlestick will be 
totally removed. Esteem it not a light matter, this great departure 
from truth ; consider its effects on the world ; consider the following : 
In three hundred years succeeding the death of the divine Master 
Christianity had conquered the principal nations of the world. 
Again: In five hundred years after the death of the dear divine 
One, Mohammed had arisen, preaching one God, and soon wrested 
from the Christians Jerusalem, Judea, Antioch, Alexandria, Asia, 
Greece, the Holy Land, and the scenes of the labors of the apostles, 
the places made sacred by the labors of the heavenly One and his 
inspired teachers. Consider it not a matter of no moment that the 
"false prophet" still holds these sacred places and rules over double 
the numbers of the Protestant world. Consider it not a light matter 
that, after eighteen hundred years, the Hebrews still hold firmly to 
the religion of their fathers, and build temples in every nation 
eclipsing the glory of the proudest cathedrals. Where is the ancient 
power of the church? Do you answer, "In Sankey and Moody!" 
So it seems ! But they have not yet risen to the first commandment. 
Read the following from the New Testament — Mark 12 : 28-34 : 

"And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning 
together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, 
Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, 
The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our 
God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, 
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is 
none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said 
unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth : for there is one 
God ; and there is none other but he : and to love him with all the 
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with 
all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all 
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he 
answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the 
kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any 
question." 

Who cannot see the beauty of this doctrine? Men have made 
many gods, all equally dependent upon each other ; but the heavenly 
doctrine is, "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord," and 
"Thou shalt have no other godsbefore me ! " This accords with the 
scenes in heaven, where God is seen upon the great white throne. 
One Supreme Being, one Eternal, who gives to all life and breath 
and all things, who himself has need of nothing ; existing independent 
in his own eternity. Others are created, God is self -existent ; others 
have a father, God is father of all ; others receive life and power, God 
gives to all life and all things ; others pray, God only answers prayer. 
God has no god, no father. God worships not, obeys not. God asks 
no favor, seeks no aid, but is himself the source of all .being, the 
fountain of all truth, the giver of all good, who openeth his hand and 
supplieth the wants of every living thing. These heavenly truths 
sweep away all idolatry, because things essential to God. God alone 
possesses. When we read of persons seen who are called God, we 
will always find by reading further that they only represented God, 



JESUS THE SON OF GOD 291 

and God spake by them. Jesus is the greatest of all representatives 
of God. Jesus said : 

"Who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, 
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered 
and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-iona : for flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
heaven. " (Matt. 16 : 15-17.) 

The heavenly doctrine of the Son of God belongs exclusively to the 
creed of heavenly truth. Heaven has revealed that "God so loved 
the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believ- 
eth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," This is the 
peculiar evangelical doctrine by which Christianity is distinguished 
from Judaism, Mohammedanism, and Paganism. They have no Son 
of God — no medium between God and men. This is the loveliest 
truth revealed from heaven in the new covenant. It stirs every 
heart with love. 

The angelic choir announced the coming Savior as the Son of God, 
and at his baptism and transfiguration God proclaimed : ' ' This is 
my beloved Son." To enforce this truth, John wrote his gospel. 
When Peter made the good confession, saying, ' w Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God," Jesus answered, "Blessed art thou, Simon 
Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my 
Father which is in heaven." This is heavenly doctrine. And this 
celestial doctrine gives a Savior who alone can be a ''mediator 
between God and men;" "by whom God made the worlds"; "who 
is the image of the invisible God"; "the brightness of God's glory 
and the express image of his person" "by whom also he made the 
worlds." He bears his Father's highest names, and represents him 
in his brightest glory; for whom no honor is too high, as the Son 
of God and manifestation -of God to men. All of which is believed 
in the words in which we read it in the holy Bible. Let this be our 
doctrine ; and with patience wait, working for the Lord in charity 
and love. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

At Conneaut, Ohio, Dr. Summerbell succeeded the popular and suc- 
cessful O. T. Wyman in a church in good running order and spiritual 
condition. It was the first time that he. had been at the head of any 
work that was not one of special difficulty since the year 1850. For 
twenty-four years he had been laboring to reestablish broken-down 
enterprises, or to establish new ones, with no help of any missionary 
society or other outside organization. At the Conneaut Church he found 
a congenial atmosphere and a pleasant field. 

At Conneaut there had been considerable opposition to the Christian 
Church by the pastor of the Congregationalist Church, who had been 
unwilling to join in a funeral service with Elder Wyman. This finally 
led to a series of sermons by the various pastors in the churches of their 
brother ministers, during which a sermon was preached by Dr. Sum- 
merbell in the Congregationalist pulpit. This sermon was published in 
pamphlet form, and did much good, because of its simplicity and full- 
ness. One edition was published by Rev. R. J. Wright, LL.D., abridged 
and amended. The sermon is now in its fourteenth edition. 

In Conneaut Dr. Summerbell enjoyed a most congenial and pleasant 



292 ' SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

field of labor, and prosperity, as usual, attended his work. He found 
everywhere in the congregation a strong love for the former pastor, 
Rev. O. T. Wynian, and learned that Elder Wyman was dissatisfied with 
his own location, where he felt that his usefulness was not proving as 
great as he had hoped; and when Dr. Summerbell determined to make 
a change, he recommended Brother Wyman to succeed him, and he 
returned to Conneaut. 

The following, clipped from the Herald of September 9, 1876, illus- 
trates his activity • 

ELDER N. SUMMERBELL. 

This dear brother made our hearts glad by his visit to the Virginia 
Christian Conference, and by his words of counsel to his fellow-laborers 
in the great work of saving souls. Oh, how anxiously we waited for the 
arrival of the train on Wednesday morning, August 9 ! Between hope 
and fear, our enemies had said, " Summerbell is not coming. Barney 
knew he was not coming; he only wanted a large congregation, so he 
could preach." At last the train arrives. How eagerly we look! At 
last we saw a large man step on the platform. We said to ourselves, 
"That is Dr. Summerbell," and so it was. Having an appointment for 
communion that night some six miles from Harrisonburg, a conveyance 
was in readiness, the brother consenting to preach to our congregation. 
Stopping at Brother William P. Blose's, we took supper; went on to the 
church, where we found the house full of people to overflowing, to whom 
our beloved brother broke the bread of life and administered the com- 
munion. 

Thursday morning conference convened at Cedar Grove. We had the 
presence and counsel of Elder N. Summerbell, of Ohio ; Elder Walker, 
of the Virginia and North Carolina Christian Conference ; and Elder 
P. Rhodes, of Woodstock, Virginia, of the Disciples. Elder Summer- 
bell preached seven sermons, Elder Walker two, Elder Rhodes two, and 
Elder W. A. Dofflemyer one. Brother Summerbell preached one sermon 
in Keezeltown, in the United Brethren Church, and one at the house of 
Brother Blose. Monday night, August 14, he preached on "Baptism," 
at the church near Mt. Vidio, which resulted most gloriously for the 
cause of truth and Christianity. After the elder was done preaching, 
Rev. Mr. Evans, of Richmond, Virginia, a follower of Rev. William 
Thourman, and an advocate of trine immersion, gave a reply to the 
doctor. We had three speeches from each, of about twenty minutes 
apiece, after the first. Rev. Evans could not answer the doctor's ques- 
tions, nor hold his position. The cause of primitive Christianity has 
received a new impetus by this little discussion. Elder Summerbell has 
made many friends for the Christian Church in this part of Virginia. 

Tuesday,' August 15, he preached at Newport, Page County, at 2:30 p.m., 
on "The New Birth." Tuesday night he preached on "The True 
Church," from the words of Jesus — " On this Rock I build my church." 
Wednesday, at 10 a.m., he told us about the distinctive principles of the 
people called Christians. At night he preached at Alma. The house 
was filled. This was his crowning effort. His theme was, "The True 
Divinity of Christ." The Elder preached in Edenburg; from there 
went to Timber Ridge, Hampshire County, West Virginia, and will 
then return home. My prayer is, " Lord grant him health and long life, 
to defend the truth," and I hope that he may return again to this part 
of the Master's vineyard. J. H. Barney. 

Harrisonburg, Virginia, August 23, 1876. 



ORDINARY PREACHING 293 

Being present at the conference just spoken of, on August 11 he offered 
the following, written during the conference in memory of their departed 
brother, Elder John W. Brown: 

A watchman has fallen, 

A herald has gone, 
A pulpit is silent, 

An altar is lone; 
A soldier of Jesus • 

Has finished his fight ; 
He died in his armor 

Defending the right. 

Poor sinners are dying 

He struggled to save ; 
His family lonely 

Bend over his grave; 
The saints are in mourning, 

He pointed to heaven ; 
But many remember 

His warning once given. 

In every nation 

The fight has begun ; 
Our comrades are calling, 

"On, brethren, on!" 
The spirits of just men 

Made perfect with God, 
On our struggle look down 

From their blessed abode. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of October 21, 
1876, illustrating his ordinary method of preaching, where he was not 
especially moved by the circumstances of the occasion: 

( The following is a sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Summerbell in 
Bible Chapel, Sunday, October 8, 1876) : 

Text — "The Gospel." Mark 1:1. 

The gospel is easily understood as good news of salvation; but 
what salvation? Is it from present or future evil, or is it the bestow - 
ment of great future good? Does it change our state, or our duty, or 
our relation to God? It must be confessed that the gospel is often 
preached so as simply to present a system of earthly duties with 
divine sanctions, and amounts to no more in theory than human 
philosophy, as true without Christ as with Christ. Such is the case 
where God is supposed to have unchangeably decreed from all 
eternity, whatever comes to pass. These things would come to pass 
just as well with as without a Savior, if God decreed them so ; and 
surely it is no gospel to preach that God decreed ail the evil of the 



294 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

world, extending salvation to a few without merit ! Some think those 
only saved who always do the best they can. Of course such were 
saved under the old law, and to such there is no gospel. Some think 
all saved because there is no future state of punishment for any to 
suffer, or be lost. The case of these is not changed by the gospel. 
Others think every man is punished without pardon for all his sins. 
This, too, precludes the gospel. If the gospel stood merely in rites 
and ceremonies, and sins were pardoned through baptism or priestly 
absolution, penance or purgatory, there is no reason why this grace 
could not have been exercised before the gospel as well as after. The 
gospel is more than all these. It is the great "power of God unto 
salvation," wherein is exercised not only a heavenly power but divine 
grace. It is a revelation of compassion for all people. By it God 
comes near to us in his fatherly character and gathers us unto him as 
his children. Jesus, the Son of God, becomes sin for us; that is, he 
shares our suffering and disgrace, and is made a curse for us ; he is 
separated from blessedness for us, and becomes one with us, that we 
may become one with God in him ; and God is no more to us simply 
a king, law-giver, or judge, but our Father, our Refuge, our Hope, 
pitying our weakness, forgiving our sins, helping our infirmities, and 
covering our faults by an ample atonement ; and we love God because 
he first loved us. This was the secret of the gospel. Nothing has 
ever so changed the face of the world as this religion of love. It was 
the next great event after creation. It had power, almost as soon as 
announced, to change the moral aspect of the world everywhere. It 
expunged torture from the statutes and cruelty from the laws. It 
drove the gladiator from the theater and the courtesan from the 
temple. It rendered war for conquest infamous, and annihilated 
slavery. It modified the punishments of the unfortunate, and erected 
houses of mercy for the poor. It erected homes for the widow and 
the orphan, and founded schools, colleges, and universities for the 
indigent as well as the opulent. Above all, it created a kingdom of 
heaven on earth, and has been eighteen hundred years peopling 
heaven with the spirits of just men made perfect. Sin exists, and the 
tares will grow with the wheat to the end of the world ; but the Greek 
no longer casts out his infant child ; the Roman no longer sells his 
son, or executes his wife, and sin is no longer honorable. Let us then 
hope and labor on. The gospel is great, and will perform wonderful 
things. It was great in the promises, great in its hope, longed for by 
both pagans and Jews. It was great in its coming — announced by 
angels and signaled by stars. It was great in its Teacher ; a heavenly 
One stood and taught among men. It was great in its love; God 
gave his only Son for our Savior. It was great in its sacrifice ; Jesus, 
the Son of the Most High, ''died for all." It was great in its power; 
three thousand were converted in its first promulgation after the 
resurrection, and a few faithful fishermen went forth successfully to 



PSEUDO -SCIENCE 295 

conquer the world. It is great in its enjoyments ; love of God is shed 
abroad in the heart. It is great in its hope, for life and immortality 
are brought to light by the gospel ; eternity is added to time, heaven 
to earth, and immortality to life. Up, then, fellow-Christian, and 
bear onward the banner of truth and love till Jesus shall call us home. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of October 
20, 1876 : 

DON'T KNOW. 

Some of the men of science having concluded to go from nature up 
to nature's God, became lost in their investigations, and wandered far 
off into dreamland, from whence they returned to give lessons of 
doubt, and were examined by a school-committee of common-sense 
men. 

Committee. — Mr. Darwin, where have you come from ? 

Darwin. — I do not know. I have traced all nature back to a 
molecule, but cannot tell where the molecule came from. 

Committee. — Who governs all things ? 

Draper. — I do not know, but suppose it to be the eternal laws of 
nature. 

Committee. — Who made the laws of nature ? 

Ingersoll. — I don't know, but suppose matter and force to have 
existed from all eternity. 

Committee. — Who made you? 

Darwin. — I do not know, but think it was nature. 

Committee. — Who made the world ? 

Tyndall. — I do not know. 

Committee. — Who created the first man ? 

Huxley. — I do not know, but suppose that he was at first a particle 
of matter. 

Committee. — Who was the first man ? 

Darwin. — I do not know, but suppose it was an advanced babboon 
or monkey. 

Committee. — Ye men of dreamy science, answer me, Whence 
came all things ? 

All. — We don't know, but suppose that all came from a molecule, 
but cannot tell what the molecule came from. 

Committee. — Who made matter and force ? 

Draper.— I do not know, but suppose that they always existed, and 
that they made themselves, and that they were never made. 

Committee. — What do you know ? 

Ingersoll. — Suppose matter and force existed from all eternity: 
suppose two atoms should come together; suppose they came in 
exactly opposite directions; suppose two other atoms just like the 
first two ; suppose — 



296 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Committee.— Come, come, Mr. Suppose! Suppose is not knowl- 
edge or science. Your main knowledge is suppose and "don't. 
know. ,, Tell me this: How long have you been studying these les- 
sons which you "don't know " ? 

All. — All our lives; and other skeptics before us studied them all 
their lives. That is the way we became so wise in the origin of all 
things. 

Committee. — Very well ; how far did you get in the book ? 

All. — To the page "I don't know." 

Committee. — Very well for teachers. Now go back to your lessons, 
and confine your studies to science and nature, and let God alone for 
the present, until you find teachers who do know. Study something 
which you can learn, and cease to call ' ' don't know " science. Above 
all, do not attempt to give lessons about God and primeval creation 
till you learn something about them. 

All. — But we do know about it. 

Committee. — Well, what do you know ? 

All. — We know that — We do not know. 

Committee. — Yes; we know that, too. Go to your seats, and get, 
ready to tell us what you do know. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

In the fall of 1876 Dr. Summerbell became pastor of the church at 
Greenville, Ohio. The following is a sermon which he preached in the 
Presbyterian church at that place on November 30, 1876: 

Text — Revelation 7:11, 12. 

One asked me, saying, ' ' What have we to be thankful for these 
hard times?" I answered : For peace and plenty, health and safety, 
free schools and free religion, abundant crops, even for such good 
times : because bountiful harvests, markets filled with food and cloth- 
ing, everything in abundance, call for thanksgivings. No floods of the 
sea, as iri India, have deluged our country ; no famine, as in Persia, 
has swept off inhabitants ; no cruel Turks, as in the East, have tor- 
tured our brethren ; therefore, we echo on earth the strains of thanks- 
giving raised by the angels round the throne in heaven. Times are 
hard, but not so hard as they have been. I can remember well when 
wages were a third lower and flour a third higher than now. Times 
are hard, and yet not so hard as to prevent millions of our people, 
poor as well as the rich, traveling hundreds, and many of them thou- 
sands, of miles to see the great Centennial show at Philadelphia. No 
exposition in the world ever before commanded such patronage. No 
railroads carried such multitudes. So many hotels were never so 
crowded. No theaters or saloons are closed in consequence of hard 
times, but the people are yet able to spend money enough for tobacco 
and whisky to bread haif of Europe. Let us not, therefore, be de- 
terred from joining the angels in songs of thanksgiving, but rather 
may angel fingers sweep over the heart-chords of this congregation 
and bring forth sweet notes of thanksgiving to the giver of all good 
for life and the world that we live in. We thank God for his law and 
the Son of his love, for religion and the Christian hope. Thanksgiv- 



THANKSGIVING SERMON 297 

ing of old made a great part of worship. There were feasts of 
thanksgiving, and praise with thanksgiving, and songs of thanksgiv- 
ing, and most of the sacrifices were sacrifices of thanksgiving, and 
the offerings offerings of thanksgiving. 

David said, ''Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts 
with praise. 1 ' Jesus said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven 
and earth." 

The pagans caught the notes of joy, and in every country the 
autumnal harvests and vintage were followed by feasts of joy and 
revelry. Herodotus and others tell us of the custom in Greece and 
all through the eastern countries. But we celebrate the day in har- 
mony with the angels, who, with sweet hallelujahs, surround the 
throne. Christian thanksgiving in this country began three years 
after the landing of the Pilgrims, and has continued to the present. 
We have the dates preserved of thanksgivings in 1623-90. And the 
evidence that after 1700 the day was observed in New England 
annually. 

OLDEST PROCLAMATION. 

The oldest proclamation of thanksgiving preserved is from the 
court in Massachusetts of 1668, and reads as follows: 

"The court, taking notice of the goodness of God to us in the con- 
tinuance of our civil and religious liberties, the general health we 
have enjoyed, and that it hath pleased God, in some comfortable 
measure, to bless us in the fruits of the earth, do conceive that these 
and other favors do call upon us for returns of thankfulness to the 
Lord, who might have justly dealt otherwise with us ; and, therefore, 
that we may be joint in this our sacrifice, do propose unto the several 
congregations of this government that the 25th day of November 
next, which will be the fourth day of the week, be kept as a solemn 
day of thanksgiving with respect to his goodness in the particulars 
above mentioned." 

NATIONAL THANKSGIVINGS. 

In a.d. 1777, Congress appointed its first national thanksgiving, 
while suffering in the midst of the Revolution. In a.d. 1795, Wash- 
ington issued the first presidential proclamation, January 1, 1795 r 
near the close of his administration. 



STORY OP A NEW ENGLAND DINNER. 

About the year 1760 the loving mother was busy spreading the 
inviting table. The happy son went to his wood-pile for wood. 
Dinner was ready, but he returned not. The thanksgiving dinner 
was eaten with anxious haste and misgivings, succeeded by grief and 
lamentation. The son had been seized by a " press-gang " and hur- 
ried off to a ship in the British service, but of this the family had no 
certain knowledge. At each returning thanksgiving his place was 
left vacant at the table. Seven long years passed ; thanksgiving day 
had come again ; the mother had carefully spread the table, with a 
place still for the absent one; the family we're seated, the blessing was 
said, when lightly the latch lifted, gently the door opened, and the 
long-lost son was there to occupy the vacant place. So there is a 
place ever prepared in heaven for each one of you. I invite you all 
to meet me at the great thanksgiving. 



"298 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

1. Jesus endured, willingly, hard times for us. "He was rich, 
and for our sakes became poor." He left heaven's throne for Bethle- 
hem's manger, and came to his own as a stranger, with no place he 
called his own to lay his head. 

2. The first thanksgiving, in 1623, was first named a day of 
humiliation (on account of the threatened drouth) and prayers for 
rain. Rain came in abundance, and the meeting was changed to a 
day of thanksgiving. 

3. Our hard times are not from the Lord directly, but the fruit of 
our doings. A dreadful war has desolated our country, and these are 
its fruits. Hundreds of thousands of young men, who might have 
now been producers, were slain. Their loss makes hard times. 

4. Untold millions of property was destroyed or squandered in 
war expenses. This loss we now feel. 

5. A wonderful debt was created. To meet the accruing interest 
continually drains our resources. This we now begin to feel. We 
did not feel it during, or immediately following, the war. Men do 
not feel the debt while purchasing. 

6. Good times bring hard times. During the last years of the war 
the Government paid high prices for supplies, money was flush, 
wages were good, men lived high, purchased largely, lived prodigally, 
got in debt recklessly ; gradually money ceased to flow from the Gov- 
ernment, and became more scarce. When interest accumulated, 
debts were due, and the reckless failed, carrying others down in their 
ruin. It is remarkable that men get into debt in good times and set- 
tle up in bad, times. 

7. Beneficial improvements, even the great discoveries of science, 
in some instances, minister to hard times. Science invents the steam- 
engine, and millions of men stand idle. One railroad in three months 
transports more produce to New York than a thousand men and five 
thousand horses, and these are now idle. A general good becomes, 
apparently at least, a partial evil. Every labor-saving machine turns 
men out of employment. This is its meaning. So machinery now 
gluts the markets with manufactured wares. Science, by machinery, 
runs a thousand spindles and discharges a thousand hands. The 
glove-maker made gloves for the people of his village, and supported 
his family ; now, by machinery, he manufactures for a hundred vil- 
lages and gluts the market, driving a hundred glove-makers out of 
employment. Once the wheat crop furnished work for men three 
months in the winter, now machinery threshes it out in three days, 
and the men are out of employment. Machinery reduces the price, 
stocks the markets, and discharges the men. Yet machinery is our 
strong arm of help. What could we do without it? The American 
young man does not take kindly to labor. He is a prodigal, wander- 
ing from his father's farm to seek employment without hard work. 
He is like a wandering Arab, ever in search of a "situation." He 
covets employment as clerk or agent, patent -right man or drummer, 
doctor or preacher, lawyer or politician, — anything in particular, 
nothing in general, the great desire being to avoid work! Yet 
work is what is needed — the whole world groans for more work. 
IVork is the wealth of the country. Working-men are needed most 
of all. The trouble is that they do not take their work to the market 
where work is in demand. Thousands of prairie farms cry to the 
tramps, "Come over and help us." 

8. The sure road to good times lies remote from the country of 
idleness. It runs through the broad territory of honest industry and 
frugal economy. It is the road to good times and plenty. 



PROGRESS 299 

There are too many eaters and sleepers 
For the number of sowers and reapers ! 

But as to "employment," Adam might have "hunted" as long as 
modern idlers for that, and, like them, returned saying, "No man 
hath hired me." 

PICTURE OF OUR GRANDMOTHERS' TIMES. 

Our grandmothers of old could always find something to do. They 
carded the wool and prepared the flax, they spun the yarn and made 
the cloth. Modern women go to the store to buy and go in debt; 
they went to sell, trade, and take home money. They supplied the 
family and sold the surplus. Wages were low and fabrics were high. 
The property was accumulated on which we now live. To secure 
good times, nations, and families, and individuals must cultivate 
industry and economy ; keep the balance of trade in their favor by 
having more to sell than they buy ; avoid war and idleness ; endeavor 
to live on a little less than your income, so as to have a little for 
charity and sickness; — then every man will find good times. 

PICTURE OF PROGRESS 

We thank the Lord for progress in many things — for more Chris- 
tianity in religion, more of Christ's spirit, more charity, more union. 
Three hundred years ago Christians ( so called ) burned each other ; 
two hundred and fifty years ago they hung Quakers ; two hundred 
years ago they drowned witches ; one hundred years ago the brandy- 
bottle and whisky- jug were as fashionable as food ; seventy-five years 
ago there was not a religious newspaper in the world, and the whip- 
ping-post and jail for debt were as common as whisky ; fifty years 
ago there was not a college in the world extending equal privileges to 
the sexes ; thirty years ago there was not a Young Men's Christian 
Association in America; twenty -five years ago no church ordained 
women to preach the gospel ; twenty years ago no man could predict 
the end of slavery ; fifteen years ago no Protestant church could hold 
service openly in Rome ; ten years ago the pope of Rome was king as 
well as a bishop. It is plain that "the world moves," and we will 
join with the angels in thanksgiving. 

our nation's progress. 

One hundred years ago thirteen feeble colonies first breathed the 
breath of national life. Now the small child has become a man an 
hundred years old, rich and prosperous. His estate reaches from 
ocean to ocean, and is all dotted over with cities, villages, schools, 
churches, colleges, and universities, and beautified with farms. This 
year his grass and grain crop was worth nearly three billions of dol- 
lars. He can raise corn enough to feed the world ; has iron enough to 
supply the world, coal enough to warm it, and oil enough to light it. 
He is, notwithstanding his debts, great, and rich, and learned. He 
has four millions of houses, two millions of farms, forty millions of 
children, and land enough to give each who will live on it one hun- 
dred and sixty acres; and his greatest present trouble is that he does 
not know who will be the next president. 

Let us now join in thanksgiving. We thank God that tilings are 
not worse. We thank God for free religion and free schools, the best 



300 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

in the world. X nree millions of children are being educated without 
bigotry, free from superstition, in all knowledge of science, and mo- 
rality," and love to God, and love to man, to reform and bless the 
world. We thank God for the advancement of woman in society. 
The station of woman is the index of progress. Women are now 
filling chairs as teachers, occupying the rostrum as lecturers, filling 
the pulpit as preachers, and the office as editors, and the study as 
authors, and everywhere with credit to themselves and advantage to 
our race. We thank God for the prosperity of the church and the 
multitude of converts, for the prosperity of the Sunday schools and 
their influence upon society. We thank the Lord for wheat fields, 
and corn fields, and orchards, and vineyards, yielding abundance ; 
but more, for the growing influence of religion, the success of our 
missions. 

We thank the Lord that no pestilence is in our land, no famine 
wastes our population, no epidemic spreads contagion, no locusts 
blight, no wars devour, no tyrants torture, no laws oppress; but 
more, for the growth of peace, and love, and charity, and union in 
the church, for the increasing influence of the Bible, and the decreas- 
ing influence of error and superstition. For all these and uniium- 
bered blessings, we join the angels which stand round the throne, 
with voice of thanksgiving, saying, "Blessing, and glory, and wis- 
dom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, be unto our God 
for ever and ever." 

Invited to attend the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua 
Iorns, at Lebanon, Ohio, in November, 1876, he sent the following 
apology : 

Sat hand in hand, an aged pair, 
Ruddy, and fresh, and hale, and fair, 
Sweet blessiugs on their children shedding, 
For this was their great golden wedding; 
Proving the proverb error's ire, 
Too many Irons in the fire. 

Sit hand in hand, for now has come 
The great centennial year; 
A million bells the tidings ring, 
Though Bummerbell could not be here; 
He said, "Fear not; we can't require 
Too many Irons in the fire." 

Sit hand in hand — the more the better; 

Two Irons welded into one 

Has kept the family together 

As single iron ne'er has done- 

For never has unwelded iron 

Done aught but serve to stew and fry on. ' t 

Sit hand in hand, as once when young 
You to the breeze your banners flung; 
When freedom, born mid hope and fear, 
Had only reached its fiftieth year, 
You with it marched to fifty higher, 
God blessing; Irons in the fire. 



TRINE BAPTISM 301 

Sit hand in hand, as once you stood 
A half a century before, 
And pledged that you life's battles would 
Fight side by side for less or more, 
And proved the song but fit for lyre — 
Too many Irons in the fire. 

Sit hand in haud, as once you talked 
The matters over when first you met, 
And since for fifty years have walked, 
And would, if spared, walk fifty yet — 
Proving the proverb false entire: 
Too many Irons in the fire. 

Sit hand in hand, while thousands pray 
That you, in fifty years to come, 
May have a diamoud wedding day 
In your great centennial home; 
The mansions of the great I Am, 
Guests at the marriage of the Lamb. 



The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of December 
•9,1876: 

TRINE IMMERSION. 

" Brother Summerbell : Will you oblige many by answering the 
following questions through the Herald? 

"1. Was trine immersion practiced in the second century ? 
"2. In what century did it originate ? 
"3. Who was its first advocate ? 



"TT- 



Wttjjam Hoeffer." 



North Clayton, Ohio, November 12, 1876.' 



ANSWER. 



Trine immersion was not preachqd in the second century, as 
proved not only by the absence of any notice of it, and by the absence 
of the word trine, but also by the repeated descriptions of baptism 
as an (one) immersion. 

Trine baptism did originate in the fourth century, though not 
always performed by immersion. 

PROOF. 

1. It is first named in the fourth century. 

2. Jerome says : ' ' Eunomius brought in the novelty of baptizing 
by a single immersion, in defiance to apostolic practice." (Pal. tr. 
p. 374.) This is the first mention of more than one immersion. 
Apostolic practice was, of course, claimed by Jerome for every 
Roman error. 



302 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

3. Jortin says, " Eunomius, we may suppose, used one immersion, 
or rather one superf usion, and that they baptized in the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as they were plainly directed to do by 
the Scriptures." {Jortin 21 : 325.) 

4. "Encyclopedia Americana," p. 558: " The custom of sprink- 
ling thrice . . . spread with the diffusion of the doctrine of the 
trinity " ; namely, in the fourth century. 

5. "Trine immersion : This has reference to the three persons in 
the Godhead." ("Penny Cyclopedia," Vol. III., p. 414.) The 
doctrine of three persons in the Godhead, not being known in the 
second century, of course the "trine baptism" is not older, as it was 
not before or older than what it is a symbol of. 

6. After the fourth century, trine baptism became so common 
that the records are as full of it as they are of the trinity. Thus, 
speaking of the church of St. Sophia, one says : ' l The canon laws, 
the officers, the established rituals, the sermons of the prelates, and 
the baptism of the archbishops themselves, prove that baptism was 
administered by trine immersion." 

Mr. Robinson says: "It would be very easy to make similar 
remarks on the churches of Antioch, Alexandria, and many more; 
for their baptisteries resembled that of St. Sophia, and their baptism 
was that of believers, by trine immersion." ( "History of Baptism," 
"Penny Cyclopedia," Vol. I., p. 188.) 

7. This proves the origin of trine immersion after the second 
century, just as the common literature of the day proves the origin 
of modern telegraphy, railroading, etc., to have been as late as the 
nineteenth century, and the story of Jerome that Eunomius was 
the first to adopt one immersion is just as irrational as would be the 
statement that Colonel Fremont was the first person to cross the 
Rocky Mountains on foot, contrary to the original custom of the In- 
dians, who had previously uniformly crossed on railroads. 

8. It may be asked, What was the subsequent fate of trine immer- 
sion? It was never fully adopted in the western part of Europe, 
and gradually subsided ; but in the Eastern or Greek Church, from 
Damascus to Moscow, it is yet practiced. 

9. It is sufficient for Christians to know the human origin of a 
doctrine by this sign, namely : that it is not named, and cannot be 
learned by the Bible alone, but is first heard of by them from some 
zealous sectarian preacher, and he unable to describe it in Bible 
language. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



THE TRUE TEMPLE 30& 



WHERE SHALL I GO? 

Where shall I go 
To seek and find 
A habitation 
For my God? 
A dwelling for 
The great "I Am"? 
A home for the 
Eternal mind? 
Go to the humble, contrite soul, 
Go where the Christian graces meet, 
Where heart's affection brings its all 
And casts it down at Jesus' feet. 
May I not go 
Where mitres tower, 
Where bishop's robes 
With diamonds glow, 
Where silver crosses 
Tell of power, 
And cardinals 
To popes do bow? 
No, Christian! no! 
Go not to Rome; 
Go not where pride 
And folly meet, 
But rather at 
Jerusalem, 
With Mary bow 
At Jesus' feet; 
Go where the fol- 
lowers of the Lamb 
Worship as God 
The great "I Am." 
Go where you find a church that 's known — 

In records inspiration gives — 
A church the Savior calls his own, 
• A church that by his promise lives ; 
Go where a people lowly take 

The Master's doctrine, with his grace; — 
But popes, and monks, and nuns uuknown. 

There saints behold the Savior's face; 
There in his church we go to find 

A habitation for our God, 
A dwelling for the great "I Am," 
A home for the eternal mind. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



304 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of December 
16, 1876: 

SCIENCE AND RELIGION. 

Religion, in feeling, is devotion ; in practice, is love and good works. 
Science is light, knowledge — systematized and classified so as to be 
made useful. Science nourishes alone under the fostering care of 
religion. Science is the eyes of religion, as devotion is its heart. 
Where there is preaching, there is teaching ; where the church is 
planted, there rises a schoolhouse; where churches flourish, there go 
up colleges ; where religion triumphs, there arise universities ; where 
religious men are educated, there science is developed. 

The charge made by some reckless writers, that religion is opposed 
to science, betrays a want of wisdom in the writers. It is all one as 
to say, devotion is opposed to knowledge ; charity is opposed to light ; 
good works to wisdom. Were this true, then science could only 
nourish among atheists, savages, and barbarians. It were just as 
wise, and far more true, to say that science is opposed to science, and 
to write on the conflict between science and science ! Illustration : 
Thus, all scientific men of Greece, before the age of Pythagoras, 
taught that the earth was at rest, and encircled daily by the sun. 
About the year of the world 3414, Pythagoras taught the Bible doc- 
trine expressed in the book of Job, where it says of the Lord that he 
stretcheth the north over an empty place, and hangeth the earth upon 
nothing. That is, he denied the earth's "fixity" and taught its 
diurnal and annual revolutions. His theory was, however, opposed 
by the scientists of his age, and finally Aristotle, the prince of scien- 
tists, "wielded his eloquent pen against the motion of the earth,' 1 and 
so effectually crushed out the theory, that the earth (so to speak) 
retired, ashamed, and remained at rest, slumbering under the gentle 
lullaby of all the scientific men who lived from the age of Aristotle 
to the age of Copernicus, that is, for nearly eighteen hundred years, 
perhaps quite — I forget the exact era of Aristotle. 

Kepler's name became immortal as the improver of the Copernican 
system. He lived and died a Christian, opposed in his discoveries by 
the scientific men of his age generally. 

Galileo was born at Pisa, Italy, in 1564. He gained a decisive 
victory for the Copernican theory in 1610, but was opposed by the 
scientific men of the age, who adhered to the system of Aristotle. 
He was condemned by a council of cardinals, monks, and mathema- 
ticians, all scientific men, so called; and this condemnation was 
ratified by the pope, himself one of the most learned men of the 
world. Galileo was a Christian, and during all his studies and trials 
was defended and sustained by his Christian as well as scientific 
friends. 

Of Newton and his devotion I need not speak. 



HIS COSTUME 305 

Religion is the patron of science, the promoter of learning, the 
friend of light and truth, without which science itself would perish. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

. While pastor of the church at Greenville, he* was called to take charge 
of the Herald of Gospel Liberty. Before he removed to Dayton, the 
location of the paper, whither he did not go till 1878, he continued to 
serve for a time the Greenville Church, traveling much on his way 
between the two places of labor. 

In his costume, Elder Summerbell was independent of fashions. 
Sometimes he was exceedingly neat and beautiful in his dress, at other 
times he considered chiefly his comfort and convenience, and at other 
times he was careless. But he was not stubborn in regard to the wishes 
of his friends, and their persuasions and representations would almost 
always induce him to take more care to conform to ordinary usages. 

But there was one garment to which he clung with persistence : a 
cloak, circular in form, of unlined, dark blue broadcloth. Year after 
year, east and west, at home and when traveling, in the city and 
country, unless he was watched, this cloak did service. It seemed at 
last as though it would never wear out, unless, like the "Deacon's 
Shay," it would 

"Go to pieces all at once, 

All at once, and nothing first." 

But at last an end was promised somewhat unexpectedly. The cloak 
was lost. 

Elder Summerbell, however, was not satisfied with this solution, and 
immediately there appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial the following 
rhyme : 

THE PARSON'S CLOAK. 

The Parson's cloak, its color blue; 

Old and well worn, but tried and true ; 

The collar' velvet, and the same 

Has, stitched beneath, the parson's name. 

The parson's cloak was lost and found 

On Dayton cars to Springfield bound, 

On Thursday, 14th of November. 

Whoever took it will remember, 

And please return it by express 

To Greenville, Summerbell's address. 

This little poem, published in the daily, was passed about from paper 
to paper, and at last was the means of the cloak's being returned. We 
have the cloak to this time ( 1900 ). 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 5, 
1877, having been copied from the Oxford ( Michigan ) Journal: 

20 



306 , SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

WHO ARE THE CHRISTIANS ? 

The Christians are the followers of Jesus. Tacitus, the Roman (pagan) 
historian, who was born a.d. 50, less than twenty years after the death 
of Christ, says of Christians : " The name was derived from Christ, who 
suffered under Pontius Pilate in the reign of Tiberius." 

In a.d. 325, when Constantine organized the Roman State Church, 
Christians who refused to subscribe were dreadfully persecuted. 

In a.d. 381, under Theodosius, they were deprived of their churches 
and books and outlawed. 

In a.d. 554-8, by Justinian's decree of uniformity, they were perma- 
nently scattered and compelled to solitary worship*, conformity to state 
religions, or the endurance of wonderful cruelties and death. These 
dark ages continued 1,260 years, commencing in the fourth century 
(325), and passed away in the eighteenth century (1785); or becoming 
fully established in 533-8, and being broken in upon by religious freedom 
in America, by the legislative act of 1785, and the disestablishment of 
the State (Episcopal) Church in 1793, that is 1,260 years after all reli- 
gious liberties were taken away by the Roman powers ( see Justinian's 
decree, a.d. 533). Churches were organized in the United States as 
follows: On Christmas day in North Carolina, a.d. 1793; in New Eng- 
land, September, a.d. 1800; in Kentucky, 1803. "They sprung up 
almost simultaneously in various parts of the country." ( "Encyclope- 
dia of Religious Knowledge," p. 362.) 

Earnest men among the Methodists in North Carolina, among the 
Presbyterians in Kentucky, and among the Baptists in Vermont, moved 
as by a common impulse, while yet they were entirely unacquainted, 
were led to feel deeply the evils resulting from sectarian names and 
human creeds. For a time they labored in their respective fields alone. 
At length they learned of one another's existence, opened a correspond- 
ence, and formed a union since known as the Christian Church. 

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES. 

1. The Bible is taken, in its spirit as well as in its letter, as the rule 
of faith and practice. 

2. It is the right and duty of the individual to examine and judge 
for himself the teachings of the Bible. 

3. Faith in Christ aud obedience to him in a holy life is the test of 
acceptance. 

4. The name "Christian" is preferred as not only theirs, but the 
divinely given name of all who love the Savior. 

The " Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge," page 362, says: " They 
simply call themselves Christiaus. They have no Calvin, or Luther, or 
Wesley to whom they refer ; no individual whom they recognize as 
leader or founder." 

THE SUCCESSION. 

Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it." ( Matt. 16: 18.) This marks the suc- 
cession. 

The preservation was not promised to any national church, but to 
Christians ; and in an unbroken line of Christians ( which nobody can 
deny ) we trace the only true succession. 

HOW DO THEY ORGANIZE? 

Christians of any or all denominations desiring union, and being will- 
ing to fellowship all Christians, and unwilling longer to divide their 
worship and service between the doctrines of God and men, organize on„ 



EDITOR AND AGENT 307 

the Bible alone for their rule of faith arid practice, with Christ as their 
leader, and all Christians, without respect to creed or sect, as their 
brethren. 

When, by appointment, all are of one accord in one place ( Acts 2:1), 
the names are taken (Acts 1: 15), when the minister asks: "Do you 
confess Christ as your Savior and only leader, and agree to receive the 
Holy Scriptures as your rule of faith and practice, and give yourself 
fully to the service of God? Will you live together in Christian love, 
bearing with, assisting each other in the Christian life?" Consenting 
to this, all bow in solemn prayer, after which the Holy Bible is presented 
to each with a charge of faithfulness by the minister. Each then 
receives from the minister the right hand of fellowship and extends it 
to others. Then a clerk is elected, and two brethren are chosen as 
deacons, and a minister is engaged, and they are a Christian Church, 
standing on the same platform as the ancient church. 

WHOM DO THE CHRISTIANS FELLOWSHIP? 

All Christians. They make no invidious distinction between Catholic 
and Protestant, Presbyterian and Methodist, or Baptist and Quaker, but 
fellowship all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. 

On doctrine they believe the common doctrines, except that they, like 
the ancient church, but follow the apostolic example as it is written — 
" Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom 
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual 
things with spiritual." (I. Cor. 2: 13.) Therefore, what men call the 
trinity they call the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, in 
whose names they baptize, and for whose grace they pray; and they 
believe that these have all one divine nature. The atonement, they 
teach, is for all, and all are invited to Christ. 

On discipline, they conform themselves likewise to the law of 
God, referring to the following and other rules: Duty of offender, 
Matt. 5:23; duty of the aggrieved; Matt. 18:15; duty to the refrac- 
tory, Matt. 18 : 16 ; duty of the brethren, Gal. 5:1; for further trial, 
Matt 18: 17; the judges (committee), I. Cor. 5: 12-6: 4; duty of the 
church, I. Cor. 5:1-13; confirmation in heaven, Matt. 18:18. The 
Christians find the Bible full of faith and discipline. They believe that 
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that 
the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good 
works." (II. Tim. 3: 16, 17.) 

They receive Christ as their only leader, Christian as their only name, 
the Bible as their only creed, and all Christians as their brethren. Their 
principles are in harmony with the church as Christ founded it, and the 
embodiment of these principles is the only means by which all Chris- 
tians can come together as one body in Christ in Christian union. — 
Rev. N. Summerbett, D.D., in Oxford (Michigan ) Journal. 

He removed to Dayton, Ohio, to save a sinking concern. The trustees 
of the Christian Publishing House had telegraphed him importunately, 
begging him to take charge of the business and edit the paper, the 
Herald of Gospel Liberty. The property was about to be sold by the 
sheriff' for debts, and the most pressing creditor consented to wait a few 
days if Dr. Summerbell would take charge of the business. In January, 
1877, he agreed to serve, and was elected editor of the publications of the 
House, and publishing agent also, with full power over the business. 
The desperation of affairs may be understood when we inform the reader 



308 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

that the salary assigned to N. Summerbell for all his duty at this time, 
both as editor and agent, was seven hundred ( $700.00 ) dollars. For two 
hundred dollars of this sum he engaged Jesse Demint to indorse for him. 
Demint was a man of property, who could secure credit at the banks, of 
which it was absolutely necessary to borrow money to carry on the. 
business from week to week. This left five hundred dollars for the 
compensation of the editor-agent. Thus he found himself in his old 
work, rescuing a perishing enterprise. It is needless to say that he 
devoted himself to a task that many considered impossible, with all his 
ability; he immediately began economies in every direction ; he made 
use of all the property to advantage, renting out all rooms possible. He 
brought his literary skill to the conduct of the Herald, and made it 
attract attention from the contemporary press. 

We reprint some of his characteristic editorials. It may be observed 
that through this volume there are several repetitions. At first we were 
disposed to remove them all. Later, observing that IN". Summerbell 
sometimes repeated himself even in the same discourse or essay, notwith- 
standing his unquestioned originality and fertility of thought, we con- 
cluded to allow the repetitions to stand. Thus we will be more nearly 
sure to present a true picture of the man himself, who would probably 
have done the same either through carelessness, rapidity of preparation, 
or desire to impress by reiteration. 

The following are some of his editorials: 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 6, 1877: 

TO OUR PATRONS. 

Respected readers, Christian brethren! Called by the unanimous vote 
of the trustees of the Christian Publishing Association to fill the edi- 
torial chair, I am not unaware of the responsibility of the station or my 
incapacity to meet the demands of the denomination as I desire to ; but 
ask for your prayers and hearty support. Had it been my prerogative to 
choose an editor, I would have selected one of superior education and 
elegance as a writer. But the choice was not mine; and had I declined 
serving, my choice would not have been regarded. Therefore, since I 
could not choose, I did the next best thing I could — that is, I prevented 
a worse selection by accepting the position myself. 

Some deference, also, I owe to the judgment of the trustees, perhaps as 
able a body of men as has ever "served the church in that capacity. 
They have a trying position ; but will, I trust, be equal to the emergency. 
The retirement of the former beloved editor will cause the Herald to 
stagger for a time, but we hope that it will recover. Brother Bush has 
promised me his assistance as far as is in his power, and we may hope 
that the columns of the Herald will be enriched and adorned by many a 
beautiful article from his graceful pen. Still the times are trying, and 
we shall need the active aid of every friend of the church. My course 
needs no explanation. You can judge of the future by the past. I am 
not ashamed of my faith. I have no apology to offer for the existence of 
the church or its principles. I know that when the Lord comes and asks, 
Who changed the faith and who divided the church? I can say, I did 
not do it, Lord. I desire, indeed, a new departure, but not a new religion. 
I want the new departure to be in union for a new effort, with increased 
zeal, greater courage, more faith, and more work. We want all faces 



GREETING TO READERS 309 

front and all marches forward. Give the gospel a fair trial by a long 
pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. (1) The editor will tiy to 
give you a good paper. (2) You, iu turn, canvass every church and fam- 
ily for subscribers. Support the Herald. Carry a list all the time for 
subscribers. (3) Make new efforts to support your miuister. Share with 
him your temporal things. Circulate his subscription more thoroughly. 
Attend the meetings more uniformly. (4) Ministers, labor more for 
revivals than ever before. Pray more; preach better and oftener. We 
have some discouragements, but we have conquered in our first battle, 
and hold the ground. Our first campaign was (1) for the Christian 
name, (2) the Bible creed, (3) the Christ leader, (4) and union. These 
positions are all now strong. Now we must insist upon conformity to 
them. We have much to encourage us. The Young Men's Christian 
Associations, the Bible societies — nearly all reformers who stand in the 
foremost ranks as speakers, and all union efforts, and, above all, the 
Sunday schools, are working to bring the world more and more into 
union with the Bible and Christ and truth. We appeal, therefore, to our 
brethren to take fresh courage. Pass the word forward all along the 
line. The Herald will aid you. We want a thousand young preachers 
to enter the field. We want a hundred new writers for the Herald. Not 
that we want more matter, but more spirit. We do not ask for quantity, 
but quality. Of those who are able, we ask beauty of style ; of others, 
beauty of spirit. Let a hundred new pens leap into the inkstands, and 
reports come in of revivals, con versions, baptisms, young converts, and 
new churches. Do not be afraid to write. Use stick or quill, only be 
sure it makes a plain mark, and that you make a mark. Say something 
that the people will remember. The Herald will be your "Christian 
advocate." See to it that every one takes it. Do not labor for other 
papers. This is yours. Buy a blank (pass) book to take names, and 
take the pay out of the money collected; and send up a good list. 

THEOLOGY. 

The word "theology" is formed of theos, god, and logos, reason, or 
word. The natural and apparent signification of theology is, the 
science of God. Moral theology respects the divine laws; natural 
theology, God as known by the works of nature; revealed theology, 
God as made known in revelation ; speculative theology consists of 
the results of human speculations in regard to the objects of faith ; 
positive theology is direct and explicit, as opposed to implied, and 
results too often in dogmatic theology ; scholastic theology is based 
upon certain established principles of faith, and is but speculative 
theology. 

The study of theology should include all sources of knowledge — 
more than all, a general and particular knowledge of the Bible ; most 
of all, a knowledge of Christ, the great revealer of God. God is seen 
in Christ. 

How wrong theology results in schism, sect bigotry, division, and 
hatred! The Romanist reads, "There is none other God but one," 
and then he reads, "The Word was with God, and the Word was 
God. " Instead of taking the natural meaning of the word Word, which 
is word, he, by speculative theology, supposes that Jesus, as a person, 
is meant, and concludes that therefore Jesus is that God of whom he 
read, " There is none other God but one," and organizes the most pow- 



310 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

erf ul engines of persecution to destroy those who think that the word 
Word, in John 1:1, refers to the word in the sense of revelation by 
speech, before it existed as "made flesh" in the person of the Son. 

Now, we believe that all true Christians desire to honor the Son, 
even as they honor the Father, and that this verse in John would 
oftener be quoted to comfort the hearts of saints were it not for the 
modern usage of seizing it as a rock of offense to hurl at the head of 
some supposed heretic. 

Another evil of the study of theology consists of the learning a 
little, and preaching that little as all, and preaching it as positive or 
dogmatic theology. Example : 

. . DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. 

» 

A student of theology takes up his Testament and reads till he 
comes to the words, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; 
but he that believeth not shall be damned, 1 ' and closes his Bible. 
"Here," he says, "I have a positive thus saith the Lord. What 
more can I want? Only the baptized can be saved." He does not 
read the texts which say :. 

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." "And by 
him all that believe are justified from all things." "To him give all 
the prophets, witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in 
him shall receive remission of sins." "That whosoever believeth 
on him should not perish, but have eternal life. " " Whosoever shall 
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 

Perhaps he has no knowledge of such scriptures ; perhaps he does 
not believe. How often do we hear such dogmatists asserting that 
none but the baptized can be saved ! Yea, some of them with unbe- 
coming assurance will supply the word "immerse," and then quote it 
as scripture. "He that believeth and is immersed shall be saved. 11 
I object to this fractional theology, not merely because it excludes the 
major part of the Christian world from heaven, and makes heaven 
the paradise of Baptists, but because it renders religion ridiculous to 
intelligent people and charges God with foolishness. We should in 
all things worship God, and never charge the great, good Father with 
our sectarian whims. The great -apostle says that the greatest of all 
is charity. Remember this and you will be slow to exclude from 
heaven. We want more common sense in theology, more reason in 
doctrine, more humanity in our divinity. St. Paul says of God that — 

1 ' He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all 
the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, 
and the bounds of their habitation ; that they should seek the Lord, if 
haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far 
from every one of us ; for in him we live, and move, and have our 
being ; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also 
his offspring." 



MISREPRESENTATION 311 

Could the cruel Catharine de Medici have known that the Hugue- 
nots (Protestants) were her brethren, her Father's children, she might 
have protected instead of slaughtering them. We should study 
theology as men, not as demons ; study it in the spirit of the God of 
love, considering that it relates to all humanity in a common brother- 
hood, as it does to God as the great Father of all. 

In the Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 13, 1877 : 

APPEAL TO THE RELIGIOUS PRESS. 

About the beginning of the present century, new churches were 
organized in various parts of our country, under the name ' ' Chris- 
tian," which adopted the Bible as their creed, Christ as their only 
leader, and preached union and fellowship for all good people. 
Though totally unknown to each other, the movement seemed 
spontaneous and uniform, each discarding all human tests of fel- 
lowship, and desiring to conform everything to the Bible with such 
exactness of verbal accuracy that no sincere follower of Jesus 
could feel that more was required than God required. God blessed 
them, and they prospered. They were noted for Scripture forms 
and phraseology of doctrine and practice. In conforming their lan- 
guage to the Scriptures, they, of necessity, dropped some cherished 
theological expressions, which, when attacked, they claimed were 
not biblical. This led their opponents to charge them with denying 
the doctrines known under these scholastic terms, and then to charge 
them with denying the divinity of Christ, and finally to give cur- 
rency to the charge that they held that Christ was a "mere man." 
This erroneous report obtained wide belief with the uninformed ; and 
inasmuch as this view of the Savior is very offensive to the Chris- 
tians, and has never been believed among or by them, but has always 
been spoken against ; and inasmuch as it can be of no service to our 
brethren of other denominations to be misinformed; and as the 
wide-spread report that a church of seventy conferences holds that 
Christ is a mere man has an evil influence on society, we, therefore, 
appeal to the Christian editors, publishers, and preachers, who have, 
some of them, without doubt, in some measure, ministered to the 
spread of this scandal, asking that they will assist us in circulating 
this, our solemn protest against the above offensive doctrine, by 
publishing this article, or by stating plainly that the Christians 
repudiate all such views and doctrines, and hold the fundamental 
form of faith concerning our divine Lord; namely, that he is the 
"Son of the living God," who existed with God before angels or 
men, all of whom were created by him and for him. We teach that 
he is the image of the invisible God, the brightness of his glory, 
comparable to whom the angels are as nothing. We delight in 
-ascribing to our blessed Jesus all the divino names and titles by 



312 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

which he is known in the Word of God, or in heaven above, where 
he shares the Father's throne, and glory, and power, and worship. 
We, therefore, ask our brethren of the evangelical press to assist us. 
in correcting this scandal, and to help us to ascribe glory to God and 
the Lamb. We ask you to do this by publishing this article, or in 
any way which you may deem prudent ; and may the grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

SCIENCE AND RELIGION — FACTS TO REMEMBER. 

Religion has uniformly advanced science. 

Religion, B.C. 1500 years, said of God, u He stretcheth out the 
north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." 
(Job 26: 7.) 

Science, B.C. 497 years, — that is, a thousand years after Job's day, 
(Pythagoras) taught the revolution of the earth. That was glori- 
ous, and religion was thus sustained, and its truths elucidated and 
explained by science. Science, B.C. 384, namely, over an hundred 
years after Pythagoras, and eleven hundred after Job, by the mighty 
pen of Aristotle set the learned and the religious world against the 
doctrine of the motion of the earth; and in Aristotle, science (so- 
called) put a bushel (so to speak) over the light for over fifteen hun- 
dred years, till the days of Copernicus. 

Religion, a.d. 1472. Rev. Nicholas Copernicus, of Prussia, re- 
newed the light, and taught the revolution of the earth. 

Religion, a.d. 1594. Galileo, of Florence, demonstrated the 
doctrine. He was a devout Christian, and was sustained by Chris- 
tians. 

Religion, a.d. 1620. Kepler, of Germany, a devout Christian, 
carried the discoveries of science much further; but about 1634, a 
court of mathematicians, monks, and bishops, adherents of the 
school of Aristotle, condemned Galileo, and endeavored to extinguish 
the light. Kepler's illustrations and Galileo's observations, however, 
obtained many adherents. 

Science, a.d. 1630. But Sir Francis Bacon, with his scientific 
snuffers, again extinguished the light, as Aristotle had done nearly 
two thousand years before. 

Religion, a.d. 1640, 1727. Finally, the discoveries, illustrations, 
and demonstrations of Sir Isaac Newton, of England, set the matter 
forever at rest. 

Now, if these things are so, and I challenge investigation, why do 
reckless writers seek to array religion against science ? If Draperism 
were true, we might expect to find the fairest faith among the Fijis, 
and the home of science with the heathen, and even Draper and 
Darwin seeking the society of scientific men among savages. Against 
this I protest. Let them tolerate the society of Christians a little 
longer; but if they go before we hear from them again, they will. 



SCIENCE (?) 313 

please send word by mail of the following (so to speak) great evolu- 
tion theory, which some people reject : 

EVOLUTION. 

In the beginning of matter which had no beginning, at sometime 
in the past timeless eternity, organism was an invisible molecule. 
After immeasurable ages, this molecule became a pulpy mass, larger 
than a mustard seed, and for untold millions of ages floated alone in 
infinite space. Finally the outside hardened to a shell, and it was a 
tiny shell-fish. After immense duration, the shell managed to get 
inside, and worked itself into a backbone and ribs. Millions upon 
millions of years passed, and the thing — got eyes and crept into 
holes. By and by, after millions of other ages, it developed feet, and 
began to walk. After other millions of ages, it developed wings; 
then the wings became invisible, and it appeared as a quadruped, then 
a monkey, and finally a man. The reason why all its increasing 
family did not go on developing into men was mere stubbornness. 
Some struck off, and remained shell-fish, others snakes, others rats r 
absolutely refusing to go on developing into men. These low-lived 
reptiles are punished for their obstinacy by becoming fixed as apes, 
hyenas, crocodiles, etc., howling their shame — living warnings to 
all who oppose the evolution theory. 

THE STATEMENT. 

The Christian religion has now been established nearly two thou- 
sand years, and challenges the admiration of the cultivated world. 
Yet the world is unsaved. The multitudes continue to walk in the 
broad way of evil, and the narrow way of life is comparatively an 
unfrequented path. Few there be that find it. The spirit is willing, 
but the flesh is mighty, and controls the impulses. The river of life 
flows near us, but few drink of its reviving water ; the tree of lif e is 
before us, but few eat of its life-giving fruit; the book of life lies 
open before us, but few enter their names ; the path of life is plain 
to view, but the multitudes pursue the road of death. Christian 
nations, so called, are very wicked. The masses are called non- 
professors, and take the term as a license, or rather a premium, for 
sin, and therefore seem to feel under no obligations to God or man. 
The church proper is divided and subdivided. Each party, professing 
to expose the errors of the rest, convinces the non -professors of the 
error of all. Even ministers of the gospel regard each other as 
ignorant of the truth, and laboring to promote error. If ministers 
so regard each other, which cannot be denied, of course non-profes- 
sors, whether conscious of it or not, follow the example of contempt 
for which they have so respectable authority, and the church, as a 
consequence, being feeble, is unable to command the respect of the 
world, and the great effort is to capture the worldly minded by 



314 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

worldliness, by external pomp, glitter, and show. Churches, know- 
ing that they have ceased to be respected for Christianity's sake, vie 
with each other in providing entertainment for worldly minds by 
rich apparel, costly temples, and high steeples. In this condition the 
church is as Samson lying in the lap of Delilah shorn of his strength, 
and will soon have her eyes of faith put out, and be compelled to 
' ' make sport " for the Philistines ; and God will take his kingdom 
from us and give it to others who will render its fruits. Out of this sad 
state there is but one avenue, and that is the path of truth and love 
We must rally around Jesus and the Word of God in earnest work. 

1. Found purely biblical churches. 

2. Be followers of Christ alone. 

3. Rally as rapidly as possible under his " one management" 

4. Cease to contend for unscriptural traditions and opinions. 

5. Fellowship every follower of Jesus. 

6. Wear alone the name of the Master. 

7. Unite in every good word and work. 

8. Cultivate extraordinary righteousness. 

9. Pray much for holiness, and even more for a fervent spirit 
and working faith. 

10. Have the spirit of Caleb and Joshua. Work every hour, 
study, strike; be bold, earnest, determined; read longer, pray 
harder, preach oftener, talk more about Jesus; talk of reform and 
religion ; look to God for help. 

GOD. 

A stream cannot rise higher than its fountain. A people are seldom 
better than their laws. As is a man's conception of God, so is he in 
his best thoughts. To adore the perfect is an approach to perfection. 
In this the ancient Hebrews were long the light of the world. 

"The theology of Judaism was pure, sublime, and devotional. 
The belief of one supreme, self-existent, and all-perfect being, the 
creator of the heavens and the earth, was the basis of all the religious 
institutions of the Israelites, the sole object of their hopes, fears, and 
worship." {Home, Vol. I., p. 143.) 

This beautiful extract is a noble tribute to a race of men whom 
Christians have been educated to hate, and it may therefore be 
received as just praise. 

Jesus was not ashamed to present these celestial views of God as 
the first and highest principle of the Christian religion. This is pre- 
sented with wonderful accuracy in that dialogue (Mark 12), wherein 
Jesus put to silence the crafty lawyer. 

THE DIALOGUE. 

1 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning 
together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, 



ONE GOD 315 

"Which is the first commandment of all ? And Jesus answered 
him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord 
our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all 
thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is 
like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There 
is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said 
unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one 
God ; and there is none other but he : and to love him with all the 
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with 
all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than 
all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that 
he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the 
kingdom of God. " 

Indeed, these words of Jesus are a test of truth in the heart. If a 
man have an inward love of idolatry, he avoids reading these words 
of Jesus, nor can he bear to hear them read. Yet who more than 
he, whom St. Paul declares is "the image of the invisible God, the 
firstborn of every creature," can make known to his creatures the 
fullness of the divine glory ? Jesus must in all things have the pre- 
eminence and foremost place, not simply as the way to God, but as a 
teacher of the saving nature of truth in relation to God. It was 
Jesus who said, ' ' My Father is greater than I, " " My Father is greater 
than all," and in his memorable prayer, declared that he had glori- 
fied, and would still glorify God. 

"the prayer" of glory. 

" Father, the hour is come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may 
glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he 
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this 
is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: 
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O 
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I 
had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name 
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world : thine they 
were, and thou gavest them me ; and they have kept thy word. Now 
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are 
of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest 
me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I 
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 
. . . And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; that 
they may be one, even as we are one : I in them, and thou in me, 
that they may be made perfect in one ; and that the world may know 
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me 



310 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast 
given me." 

St. Paul, foremost as a follower of the blessed Jesus, would not 
be left far behind in asserting the glory of his Savior's great Father. 

ST. PAUL'S VIEW. 

"There is none other God but one. For though there be that are 
called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, 
and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom 
are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom 
are all things, and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man 
that know ledge." 

' ' There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one 
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and 
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." 

There is nothing in the divine precepts of Moses superior to this. 
Jesus, who is himself the brightness of God's glory and the express 
image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power, 
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand 
of the Majesty on high, and is the only one. fully capable of "shew- 
ing us the Father." The beloved John, who delighted to write his 
Master's words, says : 

"Arid many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his 
disciples, which are not written in this book : but these are written, that 
ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that 
believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20 : 30, 31.) 

John closes his epistles, when nearly a hundred years old, with 
this beautiful apostolic exhortation: "Little children, keep your- 
selves from idols. Amen." 

THE CLOSE. 

This heavenly doctrine, the basis of all true religion, is too often 
made subservient to a spirit the opposite of the doctrine. Let those 
who handle the subject remember that it is sacred, and that they are 
to prove it in no contentious spirit, but ever remember its ever-pres- 
ent truth uttered by Jesus in the next breath — our equal love to our 
neighbor (Mark 12: 31). On these two commandments hang all 
the law and the prophets, and neither can be held in truth and right- 
eousness by any person while he neglects the other. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 20, 1877: 

CHRISTIAN MINISTERS. 

Dear Brethren : Yours is a noble calling. You are pre-eminently 
ministers of the gospel of God — ministers of the New Testament. 
You are sent forth to preach not the doctrine of men but the com- 



TO CHRISTIAN MINISTERS 317 

mandments of God. You who are elders, permit a word from me, 
who also am an elder. Help one another. There are none so strong 
that they can afford to decline help. There are few so weak that 
they may not be made strong by help. While we have many learned 
and experienced men, we have others who are young and uneducated. 
These need help. While young, the bloom of youth will so far com- 
pensate for lack of cultivation that' they can float along comparatively 
well, but with the first autumnal winds of ripening age they will feel 
that they are prematurely old and worn out, so to speak, just when 
they should be becoming strong. With more education, the most 
useful part of their ministry might be in middle life and old age, just 
when without education they will naturally retire from the pulpit. 
The work, the great work of the Christian Church, is in the fast- 
coming future, and we cannot afford to lose these from future useful- 
ness. Therefore, we advise all this class to pursue their studies by 
all means. To preach without the preparation of education is like 
guiding a ship without a compass or working without tools. You 
must always work to a disadvantage. Therefore, by all means, pur- 
sue your studies. If you can possibly do so, go to school. Nearly 
every neighborhood has a school good enough. Do not be too humble 
or too proud to attend it. It is not essential that you have a good 
education to command respect, if you are studying. Every good 
student is respected without reference to his class. The very fact of 
your going to school will lift you to a higher grade in public opinion. 
If you can leave home, then the Christian school nearest may be best 
for you — Merom, or Starkey, or the Biblical School, or Proctor. By 
all means avoid commercial schools. They are to education what 
"vanity fair" is to the church. Take the regular course, even if you 
do it at home, or on horseback, with your saddle-bags for your desk. 
But wherever you are, spend no time in idleness. Study as you go ; 
and as you go, preach. The most useful tools for a carpenter are the 
hammer, saw, and plane ; the indispensable weapon for a preacher is 
the Bible. Therefore, study language, that you may understand the 
Bible. And aside from the Bible, let language be the first great 
study. Every time you speak you use this. Understand it. Study 
it day and night. Study it from the beginning up. Study it by 
system. Have a lesson daily. Pass on from lesson to lesson persist- 
ently. When you have become well acquainted with language, you 
are master of the situation. Every archive of knowledge is open to 
you, and none who hear you will despise your education. 

To another class I now speak, even to those who are able ministers 
in spite of the want of a liberal education. There are able men who 
have little learning. These are nature's noblemen — men who seize 
by genius what others toil to obtain. Such were Franklin, Washing- 
ton, Bunyan, Henry, and a host like Walter and Plummer. To this 
class I say, despise not yourselves, or your own power. Think not 



318 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

little of your own gift, but study to be strong in what you have. 
First of all, remember that your calling gives dignity to your char- 
acter, unless you let your character disgrace your calling. Second, 
become superior in your knowledge of the Bible. Do not study it by 
course, chapter by chapter, simply, but study its doctrines, precepts, 
and principles. Note down every subject of religion— God, Christ, 
Spirit, conversion, baptism, faith, prayer, promises, communion, 
holiness, charity, atonement, etc., and study them thoroughly. Be 
able to go from chapter to chapter and text to text. Third, be relig- 
ious! Avoid all unbecoming practices and conversation, idle talk, 
idle habits. Keep to the subject of religion ! Get your Bible out on 
every occasion. Study it every opportunity. Preach and pray, so 
to speak, all the time. Fourth, give some attention to controversy. 
Learn the sharp arguments pro and con, and be able to give a quick 
answer or a home thrust when attacked, but do not stand to contend. 
Fifth, do not speak or think of what you lack, but use what you have 
boldly. Are you uneducated? So are others. The world is full of 
uneducated lawyers. Nine-tenths of the physicians are men of little 
learning. Many ministers are like yourself. Many of the educated 
are men of little or no natural genius or spiritual gifts, and therefore 
little superior to others. Fear not, but put your trust in God, and go 
forth like David with his sling and pebble. The tallest Goliaths fall 
before the man of faith. Only be earnest, and trust in God, and you 
cannot fail. Some of these men, through mistaken modesty, shun 
cities, avoid villages, fear professional men. This is all uncalled for. 
Great men are not peculiar to cities or professions. Be bold ! Preach 
wherever a door opens. Moody is a man of inferior education, yet he 
moves the world. With Christ and his gospel, religion, and a knowl- 
edge of the Bible, you may go anywhere, preach to anybody ! Every 
man may be great in his own way. "Act well your part, there all 
the honor lies." Application is more than accomplishment. Truth 
will not be denied. Remember that more rust out than wear out. 
Wesley converted thousands while other priests were sleeping. Go 
not too far to preach. Souls are just as precious at your door. It is 
a hazard of health to travel too far. Try openings nearer home. A 
traveler in the dark supposed that he was falling over a precipice. 
He caught the limb of a tree and hung for hours, as he supposed, over 
a gulf. His strength being exhausted, he committed his soul to God 
and let go. He fell twelve inches, and soon found his path again. 
Cast yourself on God. Do not hang trembling. Leave an appoint- 
ment anywhere. If you fail, try another opening. A general, re- 
porting to Napoleon that his forces were in retreat before superior 
numbers, said, "What shall I do ? " Napoleon answered, "It is but 
three o'clock ; there is time enough to regain the day. Charge on the 
enemy!" The order inspired courage. The charge surprised the 
enemy, and the day was won. Charge on the army of sin. Seek 



PHASES OF PRAYER 319 

every opening. Try to convert one, then another. Preach more, 
pray more, exhort more earnestly. Charge once more all along the 
line. Hold the fort. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 27, 1877 : 

PRAYER. 

"Prayer is the simplest form of speech 
That infant lips can try; 
Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach 
The Majesty on high." 

The first prayer probably saved the life of Cain. 

"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I 
can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of 
the earth ; and from thy face shall I be hid ; and I shall be a fugitive 
and a vagabond in the earth ; and it shall come to pass, that every 
one that findeth me shall slay me." 

The answer : 

"And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, 
vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a 
mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain 
went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of 
Nod, on the east of Eden." ( Gen. 4 : 13-16.) 

The second place where prayer is named is : 

"Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." (Gen. 
4:26.) 

Prayer supplicates help from God ; prayer implores divine protec- 
tion; prayer secures salvation. (Acts 2 : 21.) Prayer obtains grace 
and mercy : 

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we 
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 
4:16.) 

Prayer is becoming in a professor ; prayer neglected is hypocritical ; 
prayer prevents backsliding; prayer introduces religion; prayer 
softens the heart ; prayer makes atonement. 

"Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin : and now 
I will go up unto the Lord ; peradventure I shall make an atonement 
for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, 
this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods 
of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot 
me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." (Ex. 
32:30-32.) 

Prayer moves the arm that moves the world ; prayer prevents sin ; 
prayer brings revival ; prayer gives you influence ; prayer keeps you 
in the love of God. 



320 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Come, ye disconsolate, where 'er ye languish— 

Gome to the mercy-seat, fervently kneel; 
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; 

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal." 

Prayer is the common communion of all saints. 

"There is a scene where spirits blend, 
Where friend holds fellowship with friend; 
Though sundered far, by faith they meet 
Around one common mercy-seat." 

Prayer has the first promise. 

"Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 
(Acts 2: 21.) 

"Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice, 
Returning from his ways, 
While angels in their songs rejoice, 
And cry, 'Behold, he prays.' " 

Prayer answers the question, " Is he a Christian ? " 
"And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which 
is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called 
Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth." (Acts 9 : 11.) 

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
The Christian's native air, 
His watchword at the gates of death; 
He enters heaven with prayer." 

"And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into 
thy hands I commend my spirit : and having said thus, he gave up 
the ghost. Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified 
God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. " ( Luke 23 : 46, 47.) 

"And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord 
Jesus, receive my spirit." (Acts 7 : 59.) 

Christ and the Spirit both pray. 

"The Holy Spirit _pleads, 
And Jesus, on th' eternal throne 
For sinners intercedes. 

"O Thou, by whom we come to God, — 
The life, the truth, the way, — 
The path of prayer thyself hast trod ; 
Lord, teach us how to pray." 

"The Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints accord- 
ing to the will of God." ( Rom. 8 : 27.) 

Every good being, God excepted, prays; therefore, "to him shall 
all flesh come." 



GLORY OF JESUS 321 

"Come, let us pray: 'tis sweet to feel 
That God himself is near; 
That, while we at his footstool kneel, 
His mercy deigns to hear." 

Pray in faith. 

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you : for every one that asketh receiv- 
eth ; and he that seeketh findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall 
be opened." (Jesus.) 

JESUS AND HIS GLORY. 

St. John, the beloved disciple, says : 

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld 
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of 
grace and truth." 

The great need of the world was a divine mediator between God 
and man — one who could take of the things of the Father, and show 
them unto us. Not one in heaven or earth could do this except 
Jesus. St. John says : 

"And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book 
written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I 
saw a strong angel proclaiming w T ith a loud voice, Who is worthy to 
open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in 
heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the 
book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man 
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look 
thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not ; behold, 
the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to 
open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, 
and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the 
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven 
horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth 
into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right 
hand of him that sat upon the throne." (Rev. 5 : 1-7.) 

1. Jesus is the Son of God — the only -begotten Son. 

2. The well-beloved Son. 

3. The Father's delight. 

4. The Son in whom the Father declares he is well pleased. 

5. Jesus is the "image of God." 

6. The brightness of his glory. 

7. The express image of his person. 

8. All things that the Father hath are his. 

9. His name is "above every name." 

10. He is worshiped with the Father by all the holy angels. See 
the following example from Rev. 5 : 13, 14, 11, 12 : 

21 



322 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



JESUS WORSHIPED IN HEAVEN. 



"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, 
heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto 
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and 
ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty 
elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. 
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the 
throne, and the beasts, and the elders : and the number of them was 
ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands ; saying 
with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, 
and blessing." 

And we respond : 

"All hail the power of Jesus' name! 
Let angels prostrate fall; 
Bring forth the royal diadem, 
And crown him — Lord of all." 

11. Jesus sits with his Father in his throne. 

12. The Father's throne he will continue to occupy till he has con- 
verted or destroyed the last enemy. St. Paul declares this in the 
following language : 

CHRIST'S TRIUMPH OVER ALL. 

"But every man in his own order : Christ the firstfruits ; afterward 
they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he 
. . . shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For 
he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last 
enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things 
under his feet. But when he saith, All things are put under him, it 
is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. 
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son 
also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that 
God may be all in all." (I. Cor. 15 : 23-28.) 

13. Jesus desires glory, and prayed for it. (John 17.) 

14. He endured the cross to bring many unto glory. 

15. He suffered that he might enter into his glory. 

16. He rejoiced that he could come again — "in the glory of the 
Father, and of the angels." 

IT. He prayed for us that we might gain heaven, there to be- 
hold his glory. St. John, the beloved disciple, saw him in the glory 
of his resurrected state, and thus describes him. No person in the 
universe has answered to this celestial portrait but Jesus the Son 
of God. 



jesus 323 

jesus' appearance in glory. 

"And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being 
turned I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of the seven 
candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment 
down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His 
head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; and his 
eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they 
burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 
And he had in his right hand seven stars : and out of his mouth went 
a sharp twoedged sword : and his countenance was as the sun shineth 
in his strength." (Rev. 1 : 12-16.) 

18. What a glory to be the son of a great king! But Jesus is the 
Son of the King Eternal. He is the only Son of the first and final 
King, the Creator and Judge of all other kings. "In his times he 
shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, 
and Lord of lords ; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light 
which no man can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can 
see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (I. Tim. 
6:15, 16.) Consider what a glory it is to have such a divine Savior, 
and how we should delight in working for him ! Consider what a 
wonder it is that this great Son of God is the one who loved us and 
gave himself for us! Consider, ye who have talent, and learning, 
and eloquence, your duty to work for him ! Consider, you who have 
wealth, your duty to use it for his glory, who, though he was rich, 
for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be 
made rich!* 

19. Consider what a glory it is to us that this most glorious One of 
all the hosts of heaven is 

THE SINNER'S FRIEND, 

His Savior, his Counselor, his Lawyer, his Advocate, his Mediator, 
his Captain, his King, his Redeemer, his Ransom, his Priest, his 
Sacrifice. 

20. Yet how humiliating to consider that Jesus, in all his glory 
(and the half has not been told), is the only one of all the heaven- 
born who bears the marks of sin and the scars of suffering in glory. 
There still, for us 

"Five bleeding wounds he bears, 
Received on Calvary." 

St. John says : 

"And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four 
beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain. " 

Come, dear reader, covenant with God and with your brethren to 
do more for "this same Jesus" than you have ever done before. 

*The rich could send money to print tracts for the poor. 



324 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Iii the Herald of Gospel Liberty of February 17, 1877 : 

The average age of Baptist ministers is given as sixty-six years. 
Baptizing does net kill them. 

REVIEW — ITS NAME WAS CHRISTIAN. 

The following is from the Church Advocate: 

"In a recent article of the Herald of Gospel Liberty on 'The 
Primitive Church,' the first characteristic is given in the language 
which we have here quoted. We should be very much gratified if 
the same writer, or the editor of the Herald of Gospel Liberty, would 
give us the proof of this proposition. Where, in the whole Word of 
God, can we find a text to prove that the primitive church was called 
the Christian church ? " 

REPLY. 

The Advocate is a paper of marked ability and discriminating 
fairness. We prize it highly, and read it carefully among the first 
of our exchanges. 

If I understand its position, it prefers the name ' ' church " as the 
name by which the followers of Christ were at first, and should now 
be, generally known. The objection is that the Herald stated of the 
primitive church that "its name was Christian." 

The Church Advocate says, "Give us the proof." The proof 
demanded is, of course, proof of the accuracy of the statement, ' ' Its 
name was Christian." "Its" is a substitute for church, and the 
meaning is, " The name of the church was Christian." I was speak- 
ing of the primitive church, therefore the meaning was, "The name 
of the primitive church was Christian." 

The word "church" is a collective noun, as assembly or congrega- 
tion, but does not of itself designate character. It may be evil or it 
may be good. In Psalm 26 : 5 it is evil. David says, "I have hated 
the congregation (church) of evil-doers; and will not sit with the 
wicked." 

Here the original (Septuagint) word is ecclesia — the original word 
in every text where we have the word church in the common trans- 
lation in the New Testament. . In Acts 19: 32, 39, the word is 
applied to a pagan mob • 

"32. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the 
assembly [church, ecclesia] was confused." 

"39. But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it 
shall be determined in a lawful assembly" {ecclesia, church). 

That is, it shall be determined, not in an unlawful church, but in 
a lawful church — a church of pagan magistrates, for the town clerk 
had no knowlege of any church of Christians. In neither of these 
four cases does the word "church " ( ecclesia) have any sacred mean- 
ing. In Acts 7:38, we read : 



THE NAME CHRISTIAN 325 

"This is he that was in the church" {ecclesia). 

Here the word has a religious meaning, but still not necessarily a 
Christian meaning. What then is the conclusion ? It is this : That 
the word "church," in primitive times, depended for its character 
puon some explanatory or modifying word, without which we could 
not know whether it were a church of evil-doers to be hated, as in 
Psahn 26: 5, or a pagan mob, as in Acts 19: 32-41, or as in Acts 
7: 38, a caravan of Hebrew pilgrims, traveling or camping in the 
wilderness of Arabia. 

I used the word "church" not as the name of a hierarchy, council, 
or corporation. Christ established no such empire, but condemned 
it, saying, "The Gentiles exercise lordship, and they that are great 
exercise authority, but it shall not be so among you." I used the 
word simply as signifying a brotherhood of disciples of Christ, and 
said its name was Christian, thus signifying a truth so universally 
known and acknowledged that proof seems superfluous. "If any 
man suffer as a Christian," "Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
Christian," — signifying not only that the individuals were Chris- 
tians, but that they as a people were a Christian people. And in 
this the wisdom of God appears in giving his people a name which 
designates. The name "Christian," and this name only, is universal 
in its application. It covers all the ground, and is alone univer- 
sally beloved, accepted, and applicable. No other word does fully 
designate the Christian character, or include all the followers of 
Jesus. 

The catechism of the Council of Trent, "Catholic" authority (and 
the Romans are strong for the term "church"), uses the following 
language, winch confirms my position, as what they confess against 
their own position may be believed : 

"The word ecclesia (church) means a calling forth, but writers 
afterward used it to signify a council or assembly. Nor does it mat- 
ter whether the word is used of a true or a false religion. " ( Page 
71, Baltimore, Lucas Brothers.) 

Therefore, even in the Word of God, the word "church" usually 
has some modifying prefix or suffix, as "my church" : Matt. 16:18, 
"my church" (congregation) ; Acts 20: 28, "church [congregation] 
of God"; I. Cor. 11: 16, "churches [congregations] of God"; I. Cor. 
14: 33, "churches [ congregations] of the saints"; I. Tim. 3: 15, 
"church [congregation] of the living God"; Heb. 12: 23, "church 
[congregation] of the firstborn." 

Now, each one of these names, as "my church," "church of God," 
"churches of God," "churches of the saints," "church of the living 
God," and "church of the first-born," illustrate what I have said; 
namely, that the word "church" does not, of itself, designate; and 
unless understood by its connection, requires some modifying word 
to fix its meaning. 



326 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Therefore, speaking of the church as now understood, I said its 
name was Christian. This name is found in Acts 11: 26, which 
reads thus : "The disciples were called Christians." But the English 
of our common version does not convey the full force. The original 
conveys the idea of a divine influence, and should be rendered thus : 
"The disciples were called of God, Christians." The word chrema- 
tizo, in the text in Matt. 2: 12 is translated, "Being warned of 
God." In Matt. 2 : 22 it is again translated, "Being warned of God." 
Luke 2:26, "And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that 
he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ." The 
word is translated here "was revealed," but that it meant "was 
revealed of God " is probable, although the words ' ' of God " are left 
out on account of the necessary presence of the words "by the Holy 
Ghost"; for the expression, "Was revealed of God by the Holy 
Ghost," could have no greater force than the expression, "Was re- 
vealed by the Holy Ghost." 

In this view great and learned men are agreed. Jacobus says on 
Acts 11 : 26 : "It was doubtless also by the divine ordainment that 
this should come to be their name; and the word signifying 'called,' 
elsewhere means ' called by God, or by divine direction.'" 

Dr. Clarke says: "The word chrematisai in our common text, 
which we translate 'were called,' signifies, in the New Testament, 'to 
appoint, warn, or nominate by divine direction.'" 

But was the church of Christ thus called ? The church of Christ 
was composed of disciples of Christ, and St. Luke says, Acts 11 : 26, 
" The disciples were called Christians." 

The disciples were the church ; ergo, the church was called Chris- 
tian. This was well understood in primitive times. Agrippa, just 
from Rome, said to St. Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
Christian." 

Peter said: "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy 
are ye. . . . Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be 
ashamed ; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is 
come that judgment must begin at the house of God : and if it first 
begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel 
of God ? " 

"House of God" here signifies the church, and the word "Chris- 
tian " going before signifies the name of the individuals or collective 
body of believers who comprised the church, or "house of God." 

Yet in my article I did not use the phrase, "Christian church," 
neither did I say that the church was called Christian in the Bible; 
but, "Its primitive name was Christian." In Eusebius, the oldest 
church historian extant, the word "Christian" is common in the 
second chapter, relating to the followers of Christ in the first cen- 
tury. But I will not multiply proofs of what you have no dispo- 
sition, probably, to deny. 



CHRISTIANS 327 

An elegant writer says: "Christians is also a name of union. 
Who will refuse it ? Who does not claim it ? It levels. Being the 
name of all the followers of Jesus, it leaves no room for higher 
appellations. The preacher can come no nearer Jesus than to be a 
Christian. The eminent doctor can come no nearer Jesus than to be 
a Christian. That is the highest title. It is a name of equality, of 
union, and of love. Therefore, I defend it.' 1 

Dr. Adam Clarke says: "Christians was the first general appel- 
lation of the followers of our blessed Lord ; and there is presumptive 
evidence, as we have seen, that this appellative came by divine 
appointment. How very few of those who profess this religion are 
satisfied with this title ! When all return to the spirit of the gospel, 
they will probably resume the appellative of Christians." 

Pardon the length of my article. I await your reply. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of February 24, 1877: 

HOLD THE FORT. 

The Christians are identical with the New Testament disciples of 
Christ, and are the church created by Christ. If we found in history 
two thousand years old, a society called Masons, or Methodists, or 
Quakers, answering in all the main features to those, so called, in the 
present day, and if we knew that through all the ages there had been 
no time when true members of those societies, or, at most, when true 
men of those principles did not exist, but, on the contrary, that men 
true to the principles had lived in every generation, notwithstanding 
the severest persecutions, we would not deny that the Masons, Meth- 
odists, or Quakers were identical with those ancient societies. So 
should we not deny that the Christians of 1833, 1843, or 1877 are 
identical with those of a.d. 33, or a.d. 43, or a.d. 77, since no one 
will dispute that the Christians continued through all the ages, not- 
withstanding the cruel persecutions. Even the accusations against 
us fall on these first Christians. They had no creed but the Bible, no 
leader but Christ, no discipline but the words of Jesus, no names but 
those in the Bible. The Christians now are identical with them. 
We have — 

1. The same name. 

2. The same creed. 

3. The same discipline. 

4. The same leader. 

5. The same fellowship. 

6. The same government. 

7. The same lack of everything pertaining to sectarianism. In 
every accusation they are liable to the same reproaches, so that in us 
the scripture is fulfilled, "The reproaches of them that reproached 
thee fell on me." ( Rom. 15:3.) 



328 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Are we confined to the Scriptures? So were they. Have we no 
leader but Christ? So had they. Are we imposed on by false breth- 
ren? So were they. Are we overshadowed by worldly sects and 
state religions? So were they. Every word spoken against the 
Christians now is a reproach upon the Christians then. Yea, more 
— it is a reproach upon Christ, for we take the church as he founded 
it; we rejoice in it as he gave it unto us. Nothing is added, and 
nothing is taken away. We have — 

1. The same God, the Father. 

2. The same Christ, the Son. 

3. The same sacred books. 

4. The same spirit. 

5. The same union. (Eph. 4.) 

6. The same commandments. (Mark 7 : 1-13.) 

7. The same names for religion. 

8. The same charity. 

That we want in goodness, in zeal, in faith, in virtue, in personal 
graces of character, in coming up to our divine principles, we deny 
not. Over these shortcomings we mourn, in common with others; 
but this is no reason for abandoning the divine principles, and going 
back to the human philosophies which in former ages divided the 
church, burned the saints, quenched the spirit, did away with Christ's 
name, stamped out charity, and gave us a Roman Church instead of 
a Christian, sects instead of unity, and persecutions instead of 
charity. The only safety is to strengthen the things that remain. 
The whole Christian world is advancing to the Bible position. 

SUCCESS. 

All desire success, but great success is not possible for all. Some- 
times one great preacher will lead all, as Luther, Knox, Calvin, 
Wesley, Whitfield, Spurgeon, Beecher, and Talmage. In the world 
great sects lead — in western Europe, the Latin Church ; in Russia, 
the Greek Church; in England, the Episcopal; in Prussia, the 
Lutheran ( " Evangelical 1 ' ) ; in northeast Prussia, the Congregational 
Church; in Scotland and the North of Ireland, the Presbyterian 
Church. It is no sign of truth or soundness of church polity that 
some succeed above others, for others will have the same faith, and 
the same polity, and yet dwindle. Some are and must be foremost. 
It is just so with fortune. A man said, " Until last year I labored all 
my life, and could hardly pay my bills ; now I have my thousands, 
and do not do half the work ; neither did I obtain the position by any- 
wise management of my affairs. " 

Most denominations have a strength by natural descent. They 
inherit the wealth, learning, churches, and families of former gener- 
ations. There are no prominent sects now in the world that have no 
such inheritance. Catholics come of Catholic parents ; Episcopalians, , 



DENOMINATIONAL SUCCESS 329 

by natural descent from the English Church; Methodists likewise. 
All their great, leading men were educated there, and the strength 
of the church is from there. The Presbyterians are largely of Scotch 
and Irish descent ; the Lutherans, German. What of the Christians ? 
The Christians came out from all. They were a nation. born in a 
day, adopting nothing this side of the apostles ; they cut loose from 
pedigree. Their consolation is that, though the numbers and strength 
of their churches have not increased as they desired, yet, what is 
far more desirable, aside from our selfishness and personal ambition, 
the principles have taken the world. Once we alone spake of ' l the 
Christian Church " ; now many denominations call theirs by no other 
name in receiving members. Once we alone professed to receive 
members on the Bible ; now most popular churches use no other book 
in receiving members. Once we alone invited all to communion; 
now it is common to do so. Once the Christians alone ordained 
women ; now it is common. Shall we not rejoice in this ? Most 
assuredly! These other churches and ministers are our brethren, 
and we must rejoice in their success. 

Suppose we do not accomplish all that we desire, yet let us labor 
on, trusting all to God. Our great work should be to save souls and 
cultivate goodness. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of March 3, 1877 : 

Love gilds over with charity a brother's failings. 

The ivy of affection covers the homely house with life and beauty. 

Love is a duty angels love, demons dare not decry, nor bigots ape. 

Professing a creed you cannot swallow is journeying to heaven 
with a lie in your mouth. 

He is most orthodox who is most godlike, most evangelical who is 
most Christlike, nearest to heaven who is nearest to Jesus. 

THE GOSPEL. 

The gospel is glad tidings. 

Jts message is to all people. 

It emanates from the love of God. 

It was announced by a chorus of angels. 

It comprehends the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord 
Jesus Christ as God's remedy for sin. 

The gospels are recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who 
record each only his own brief account of the Savior. 

The account is only designed to give a view of the earthly manifes- 
tations of Jesus. 

What John says: "Many other signs truly did Jesus in the pres- 
ence of his disciples, which are not written in this book : but these 



330 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." 
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, 
if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world 
itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen." 

The common word for naming the congregations of Jesus was 
"multitudes." or "great multitudes." Jesus was the Lord from 
heaven, and spake of things which he had seen in heaven. 

The Gospels are the only true account of a purely celestial life 
which was ever written of Jesus. Too many read about the Gospels 
in books of their favorite guides. These are strangers to the Gospels. 

A careful reading of the Gospels tends to convert the soul, to com- 
fort the heart, to strengthen faith, to eradicate bigotry and unbelief, 
and to make the reader Christlike. 

Our own thoughts have a natural tendency to conceit and bigotry, 
which a sincere study of the gospel tends to dispel. 

The Gospels have a wonderful repelling power against selfishness, 
sectism, superstition, and narrowness. One word from Jesus dispels 
the darkest gloom of the bigot. 

Does Calvin announce tha/t God loves only the elect? Jesus 
.answers, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life. ' ' ( John 3:16.) 

Does popery propound the faith that unbaptized infants are lost? 
Jesus answers, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." "It is not the 
will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones 
should perish." "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come 
nnto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18 and 19.) 

Does the zealot desire to call for fire to destroy? Jesus answers, 
"Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." 

Does the Jew despise the people of Shechem? Jesus answers by 
the parable of the good Samaritan. 

Do we suppose faith is confined to the church? Jesus answers us 
by the faith of the Syrophcenician woman. 

Would we doubt the duty of pardon? Jesus extends the virtue of 
repentance to seventy times seven recoveries in one day. 

Do we doubt his grace for the despised penitent? He pardons the 
sinner in the midst of her accusers. 

Does faith stagger before the tottering steps of the aged sinner? 
Jesus gives us the parable of the laborers in his vineyard, and the 
happy reward, even at the eleventh hour. 

Do we fear the fate of the dying penitent? Jesus pardons the 
dying criminal, and if our faith is confined to ordinances, the hands 
and feet of a sinner nailed to the cross prevent the superstition of 
belief that he found favor through baptism, and teach us that "this 
is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent ; and 



THE GOSPEL 331 

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to 
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing 
of the Holy Ghost. 1 ' 

A thorough study of. the Gospels will enrich the mind and enlarge 
the heart. 

Jesus was born as no other person was ever born ! 

Jesus lived as no other person ever lived — without fault ! 

Jesus prayed as no other person ever prayed — not once for pardon 
or grace. 

Jesus spake as no other ever spake. 

Jesus ate, increasing the loaves to feed all, as no other ever ate. 

Jesus suffered as no other ever suffered — for sin ! 

Jesus died as none other ever died — that is, he laid down his life 
and took it back at his pleasure. 

His Gospels are the best code of Christian duty, and his life the 
best incentive to virtue. The Gospels contain the only true religion. 

To the Christians especially I commend the close and devout study 
of the Gospels. We should aim to surpass in likeness to Christ! 
Even pure faith is only profitable as it works by love and purines the 
heart. We should labor to surpass in love and good works : not only 
in pure faith but in purity. We should be more devout than the 
Catholic, more zealous than the Methodist, more persevering than the 
Calvinist, purer than the Puritan, and more obedient to all Christ's 
laws than the "Disciples." The very name Christian (to the exclu- 
sion of all other names) should be a constant reminder to us of the 
Christ-life, and that life in the Gospels should be our constant study, 
and to imitate it our unremitting aim. 

GOLDEN GRAINS. 

The Christians, by professing the Bible as their rule of life, are 
under obligations to study its precepts, and, by obedience to them, 
illustrate its benefits. Take one. Here follow several. Take one 
and study it : " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which 
are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness ; considering 
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, 
and so fulfil the law of Christ." (Gal. 6:1, 2.) "Children, obey 
your parents in the Lord : for this is right. Honour thy father and 
mother: which is the first commandment with promise/' (Eph. 6: 
1. 2.) "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
church, and gave himself for it." (Eph. 5:25.) "Wives, submit 
yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the hus- 
band is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church : 
and he is the Saviour of the body." (Eph. 5:22. 23.) "Fathers, 
provoke not your children to wrath : but bring them up in the nurture 
and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6:4.) "Swear not at all" is 
a precept of Jesus. (Read Matt. 23:lS-22.) James says. "But 



332 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither 
by the earth, neither by any other oath : but let your yea be yea ; and 
your nay, nay ; lest ye fall into condemnation." (James 5:12.) 

Avoid all intoxicating drink. " Thieves, nor covetous, nor drunk- 
ards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of 
God." (I. Cor. 6:10.) The works of the flesh are "envyings, mur- 
ders, drunkenness, re veflings, and such like : of the which I tell you 
before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such 
things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." ( Gal. 5:21.) 

Assist your ministers. St. Paul says, ' ' Let him that is taught in 
the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good tilings." 
(Gal. 6:6.) You cannot sow to the Spirit by carnal things. As the 
apostle says, l ' He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap cor- 
ruption ; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life 
everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing : for in due season 
we shall reap, if we faint not." ( Gal. 6 : 8, 9.) 

' 'And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the great- 
est of these is charity." (I. Cor. 13:13.) 

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." (I. John 
5:21.) 

PRECEPTS. 

Avoid "security"; it is only a fashionable mode of gambling, 
where the* innocent looker-on pays the bills. Solomon says, "Be not 
thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for 
debts." (Prov. 22:26.) 

Beware of anger without cause, and guard against its fruit with 
cause. It is dangerous even where it is not sinful. See Eph. 4:3; 
Col. 3 : 8. 

Avoid debt! Better eat a dry crust and sleep on the bare floor 
than have your blood made of food not paid for. St. Paul says, 
" Owe no man any thing." (Rom. 13 : 8.) 

Be industrious ! Labor is an institution older than sin. It comes 
from Eden and the sinless state. ' l Six days shalt thou labour, " is part 
of one of the ten commandments. (Ex. 20 : 9.) 

Be just ! All fraud is theft. When you put money where you owe 
it, you make the best deposit. If you speculate on another man's 
money without his consent, you owe him all that you make ; if you 
eat bread purchased with his money, the blood made by the bread is 
his. Settle soon or you may be in debt through all eternity. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of March 10, 1877 : 

TO WHAT GOOD, OR GUI BONO? 
What advantage will result as the end of all our earthly 
care? Who will show us the great good to make our hearts 



FOR WHAT GOOD 333 

glacl? Men of learning and erudition, cultivation and capac- 
ity, wealth and position; influence and power, are all subject 
to the humblest cares and calls of nature — the aches and 
pains of the humblest citizen. Kings and conquerors, em- 
presses and queens, princes and nobles, popes and sultans, are 
all subject to like passions with the poorest people. Queenly 
temples ache under the jeweled diadem. State cares cause 
kings to groan under the weight of government. The head 
that one moment is adorned with a brilliant crown, the envy 
of millions, the next moment seeks relief in solitary retreat, 
or rest in retirement. Magnificent robes cover many a heavy 
heart. The noble and the serf have tire same nature, wants, 
and weaknesses — the same calls and duties, the same head- 
aches and heartaches. There are no depths of learning, or 
attainments in science, or natural ability, or acquired knowl- 
edge, or innate wisdom, or gold, or greatness, or power, that 
will free a man from temptations, trials, and troubles. Hunger 
and thirst, sickness and sin, pains of body and pains of mind, 
care and anxiety, are the common inheritance of mortals. 
What can guide us to perfect good? Will wisdom do it? Can 
power do it? Shall science secure it? Can conquerors claim 
it? Loud and long the reply comes from Alexanders, and 
Hannibals, and Napoleons, No ! no ! no ! Can brilliancy, and 
fame, and popularity do it? From Caesar and Byron, Voltaire 
and Volney, comes the answer, No ! Generations come and 
.go, empires rise and fall, fortunes are made and lost, sects 
flourish and decay, learning elevates society, science opens 
new empires of thought and conquers all possibilities, still 
there remains the same care among the great as among the 
lowly. The mother bends mourning over the sick babe in 
palace and hovel alike. Crime creeps in through gilded gates, 
leaps in over towered walls ; sickness floats in with any wind, 
and death comes unsought, uncalled. What is the hope? It 
is Christ alone. We are shut up to this. Christ is the hope, 
and' the only hope, of a dying world. We want standing 
armies of Christian soldiers to battle against sin. We want 
crusades, led on by many Peters, to recover, not the Holy 



334 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Land, but holy hearts. We need gold consecrated to God, 
learning leaning on Jesus' breast, and science surrounding 
sin's secret sources with ditches and trenches of righteousness. 
The only captain who can lead us to victory is King Jesus. 
Hear him call all the forces of head, and heart, and fame, and 
fortune. Come, ye rich, with your gold ; come, ye poor, with 
your prayers ; come, ye leaders, with your learning, and ye 
sinners with your sins. He has a work for every man to do. 
He can take your sins away. He has fields of labor for all, 
and his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are 
peace. 

THE POPULAR PULPIT. 

There is in no department of nature such a waste of material as in 
theological teachers. We have, perhaps, one hundred educated min- 
isters to each college or university professor ; and yet on any question 
requiring perception of philosophy, science, or mental labor, the few 
professors outweigh all the reading reverends, though being not a 
hundredth their number, and not possessing a tithe of their advan- 
tages. Now, why is this ? Why do theological graduates sink out 
of sight so soon, except as theologians and pastors ? Some suppose 
that it is because of devotion to the work of the ministry; others 
because of hierarchal tyranny, by which McCunes are promptly 
hunted down by Skinners, or Swings by Potters. Some account for 
the intellectual imbecility of the popular ministry by the supposition 
that men of little intellect seek the pulpit for easy honor and cheap 
indulgence. Whatever may be the cause, it is undeniably true that 
there is either a great rusting out of latent pulpit talent, or a great 
want of natural capacity in the educated men in the ministry. 
Others assert that these men of immense learning and unlimited 
erudition require all their time for pulpit preparation and parochial 
visiting. It is true that learning has monopolized the pulpits of 
some denominations; but the success of lay preaching proves the 
inutility of this. Collegiate preachers have driven "undergraduates 
and women from the pulpit ; yet two hundred of these learned divines 
attend in mute astonishment the more successful labors of Brother 
Moody and Sister Smiley, and go home to write what has already 
been written over for the ten thousandth time for the past fifteen 
hundred years — learned essays on antiquated questions of scholastic 
theology. When Darwin throws a bombshell into the study, they 
awake as from a trance, and wait "further evidence of evolution." 
Tyndall proposes Elijah's mode of prayer, and they are petrified at 
his audacity. Draper assails their system, and is beneath their 
notice. Huxley speaks, and they pause to consider. Of course 



CHRIST'S GREAT DESCENT 335 

there are a few noble exceptions, but the multitudes of learned- 
shepherds are busy on questions of baptism and close communion, 
and have no time to lead the learned world in scientific investigation. 

CHRISTOLOGY. 

"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his 
disciples, which are not written in this book : but these are written, 
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and 
that believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20: 
30, 31.) Who was he ? The Son of God. Where was his home ? 
In heaven. When was he there ? In the eternal morning. Whom 
was he with ? God. In what state ? He had glory with God before 
the world was. What was his appearance ? He was the brightness 
of God's glory and the express image of his person. What was his 
work ? He laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the 
work of his hands (Heb. 1) ; by him God made the worlds. How 
was he honored ? With the name of God, and all the angels of God 
worshiped him. What is his power ? All power in heaven and in 
the earth is given unto him. Where did he come from ? He came 
down from heaven. What change took place ? Being in the form 
of God, he took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in 
fashion as a man, and humbled himself, and became obedient to> 
death. Was it the same Jesus ? He was made a little lower than 
the angels, and a body was prepared for him for the suffering of 
death. Can it be ! Can it be ! No words can describe his beauty. 
When he spake, all eyes were fixed upon him. Never man spake as 
this man. The celestial Spirit in the flesh was as light in a dark 
cloud, as caloric in glowing iron, as a brilliant sun flung into the 
primeval darkness of infinite space. The Son of God in the flesh ! 
What a thought. Were the brightest rays of ten thousand suns, 
intensified in beauty and brilliancy by their number, woven into 
garments of pure light, it were a fabric too coarse for his celestial 
soul ; yet that pure Spirit was clothed in mortal flesh ! Men saw him 
and wondered; fiends saw him and trembled; blind men opened 
their eyes to see him ; deaf ears were opened to hear him ; the dead 
arose to meet him ; Moses came down from his mount in the skies to 
see him ; Elijah returned with his chariot to hear him ; the doctors- 
of learning in the temple were astonished at his wisdom; angels 
shouted from the skies, "Christ the Lord!" and God spake from 
heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased." The beloved disciple, omitting any account of an earthly 
birth, opens the history of his Lord with this statement: "And the 
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, 
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and 
truth." And closes it with warning to the reader: "There arf also 



336 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be 
written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not 
contain the books that should be written. Amen." 

THE WHOLE FAMILY. 

A pleasant natural relation is the family — father, mother, sisters, 
and brothers. Yet this relationship is not so dear as that of the 
church of God. When they said to Jesus. "Thy mother and thy 
brethren seek thee," he answered, " Who is my mother, and who is 
my sister or my brother ? Whosoever knoweth the will of God, and 
doeth it, the same is my mother, and my sister, and my brother." 
Thus he placed the human below the divine relation. This same 
Jesus called the disciples his children, saying, "I and the children 
whom thou hast given me." It is presumable that the angels are 
reckoned in this family, since it is called the whole family in heaven. 
God, the great Father of the whole family, combines both the 
fatherly and motherly characters, sustaining both relations in love 
to his children. Jesus is the eldest Son. Angels are servants, and 
perhaps sons. The human family are all God's children by creation, 
being made in the image of God, especially in moral and intellectual 
powers; but they are peculiarly the children of God by the new 
birth. In this they are made partakers of the divine nature. God 
owns them for his children, and Jesus teaches us to say in prayer, 
"Our Father which art in heaven, "etc. ; and again, "Call no man 
father, for one is your Father which is in heaven." Another thought 
is precious to the saints: that the good of all ages and all climes 
belong to the brethren. The prophets and apostles are our brethren ; 
the Miriams, and Marys, and Marthas are our sisters. Our names 
stand in the family record with theirs. To this family belong also 
kings and queens, earls and princes, and great ministers, scholars, 
poets, historians, and eminent men, saints, commanders, teachers, 
artists, and certain of all the great worthies of the world. Not least 
in the catalogue are the patriots, but still more precious are the 
martyrs — those who willingly laid down their lives to bear witness 
to the truth. Let these thoughts comfort the children of God. They 
belong to a great family, and have a heavenly home prepared, where 
they expect to meet in celestial mansions, to enjoy their Father's 
smiles and their Savior's grace, and the society of all the fathers and 
mothers, and sisters and brothers, forever and ever. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of March 24, 1877: 

THE WORLD. 

It is gratifying to the Christians that the whole world is now law- 
fully open to the gospel; and almost equally gratifying that the 
Christian nations are not only dominant in power but equally in 



CHRISTIANITY ADVANCES 337 

advance in intelligence, and commensurately in advance in educa- 
tion, science, the arts, and benevolence. Nowhere in the world have 
such wonderful efforts ever been made to prevent suffering, as are 
now made in Christian lands. The suffering and death from starva- 
tion the past year in India, in the neighborhood of Hindostan, which 
abounds in wealth, and at present in China, should forever put to 
silence the idle boast of those who speak of the ethics of Buddha, the 
political economy of Confucius, or the sagacity of Mohammed. All 
know that no such suffering from want could possibly take place 
in any country blessed with Bible reading and Protestant intel- 
ligence. 

Yet we acknowledge the peculiar merit of these religions, and have 
no disposition to make them less. Buddhism makes men gentle and 
human only in proportion as it enervates and enfeebles the spirit; 
Mohammedanism makes men honest and just only to men of "like 
precious faith"; Confucianism makes men obedient to law only as it 
maks them servile. The whole history of the vast empires governed 
by these principles, or religions, proves this. We claim superior vir- 
tue for every form of the Christian faith. We acknowledge the 
faults of Christian nations, but plead that those who committed them 
were not friends, but foes to the faith. Christ-force is as leaven hid 
in meal : not all is at once leavened ; the unleavened meal was bitter 
from the dominance of the tares. The wheel, the dungeon, the rack, 
the thumb-screw, were relics of paganism. Fifty thousand butchered 
to honor "St. Bartholomew's eve," was the work of a Roman hier- 
archy, which drank of streams never sweetened by any Christian 
Elisha. The Roman Church has its sanguinary spirit, not from 
Jesus, but from Tarquin. But that power is broken; and, bad as it 
is, Catholicism is better than paganism. And now that all the world 
is open to the gospel, we hope that faith, and prayer, and active work 
may never rest till the field is sown plentifully with the good seed. 
Let the "sick man" of Turkey be sent to the hospital; let the inhabi- 
tants of China, Japan, and Corea be educated in Christianity; let 
Soudan be inundated with the Christian spirit, as well as baptized in 
water; let Christian education reach every child. 

Listen not to discouragements. Once the proud Frederick of 
Prussia was certain that the Christian religion was crucified. Vol- 
taire cried, "Crush the wretch!" and supposed Christ not able to 
resist; but these are dead, and Christ lives. Caiaphas is dead, and 
Pilate is dead ; Celsus is dead, and Nero is dead ; and soon those who 
oppose Jesus now will, like them, be dead; but the life-spirit with 
which Christ animated his church nearly two thousand years ago, 
can never die. It rises upon the loftiest waves of science hi Coper- 
nicus, Kepler, Locke, Newton, Hitchcock, and Agassiz; it fills the 
valleys of humanity with asylums, homes, infirmaries, and multi- 
tudinous charities ; it ornaments the mind with science, and builds its 

22 



338 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

schools and colleges on the high places of the earth. The Sunday- 
school is Christianizing the sects; Christian woman is humanizing 
the heart ; art and science are eliminating bigotry ; millions of influ- 
ences are at work purifying the faith, and visible and invisible forces 
are separating the man's superstition from Christ's religion. If home 
illustration were needed, we have it in the multitudes sent from 
China and Japan to be educated in America; in the progressive 
power of science, as illustrated by Prof. Maury in meteorological 
science ; in the successful teaching of the fine arts, as well as classical 
learning in the common schools of Massachusetts, and in a thousand 
forms meeting us in every -day life. 

The work before us is first to purify our lives by the Spirit, then to 
purify our faith by the Bible, then purge away the latent dregs of 
pagan ignorance, superstition, and bigotry, and in the near time, by 
hearty, united effort, endeavor to Christianize every city, village, 
and community. The work must be bold, aggressive, persistent, and 
thorough. Work for God and men ; work for Jesus and for human- 
ity; work zealously, faithfully, lovingly, hopefully, perseveringly ; 
work for Jesus and his cause now and forever! 

HOME. 

The chief object of a great portion of the people, and these of the 
best class, is to secure homes. This they do usually by many years 
of industry and economy, frequently extending through a large 
portion of their lives. Why do they thus toil and deny themselves? 
Because of the blessedness of home — a place which they can call their 
own, from which no landlord can drive them when sick, or old, or 
disabled ; that they may provide for their children, and that they may 
be secure from want, and in no case become paupers or a burden to 
their friends. The object is laudable, and the effort should be 
encouraged. The very effort is prima facie proof of worth, especi- 
ally as compared with others who live "from hand to mouth," and 
the superior virtue of the former class is demonstrated by their free- 
dom from criminal charges. Not only do the efforts of these toilers 
challenge our approval, but the toilers merit our sympathy. On 
these and other grounds, chiefly of political economy, nearly all 
legislators, formerly t have made the home title very sacred. When 
once a man secured a home there was little danger of losing it. With 
our modern legislators this is not so. Enormous taxes are levied, and 
the home, secured by the toil and self-denial of a long life, is sold for 
the delinquent tax. Yes, the home of the poor man, the old man, the 
sick man, or the poor widow, or orphan children, is sold by the very 
laws which should protect them and the men who were chosen to 
defend them! Thus the guardians of the people enact laws to dis- 
posess them, and the servants of the people sell out their employers. 
These things should be remedied by wise and timely legislation. 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED 339 

SCRIPTURE EXPOSITION. 
EVIL SPIRITS. 

"Brother Summerbell : Will you please to give the true expla- 
nation of Luke 11 : 24, 25 : ' When the unclean spirit is gone out of a 
man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest ; and finding none, 
he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when 
he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. ' 

' ' Hannah Biner. ' ' 

Answer. As the most wicked spirits are fallen angels, and a 
man's most bitter enemies his apostate friends, so fallen saints are the 
worst infidels. Pilate, the pagan, was not half so cruel as Caiaphas, 
the priest; and the boldest sinner is less savage than the boasting 
bigot. These Jews were once the people of God — comparatively 
pure, but now fallen. They were Under the worst influence of the 
evil one. Evil spirits in the body or out of the body afflict men. 
They find a congenial home in the wicked hearts and corrupt imagi- 
nations of men. When cast out they find no rest. They are as 
cattle walking in dry places, where there is no water or food. Then 
they seek to return, and, finding the heart purified, assault it in 
concert again and again, just as tipplers combine to destroy a sober 
man. If the righteous man yields to temptation, then Satan has a 
firmer hold than before. Of the Jews Jesus said, "Their house is 
left unto them desolate." So the last state of the apostate is worse 
than before. He will now yield fully to the control of Satan, and 
perhaps be a bold blasphemer or an infidel. 

"Rev. N. Summerbell: In my Bible reading not long since I 
came to the eighth and ninth verses of the second chapter of Zecha- 
riah. In those two verses two persons are called Lord of hosts. The 
two verses read thus : k For thus saith the Lord of hosts ; After the 
glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you : for he that 
toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will 
shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their serv- 
ants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.' The 
last clause of the ninth verse apparently means, 'And ye shall know 
that the Lord of hosts hath sent the Lord of hosts.' Please explain 
through the Herald, and oblige a seeker after truth. 

"Oliver B. Kipp. 

"Burnt Hills, N. Y., February 14, 1877." 

Reply. Nearly all commentators fall into the error you name, but 
get out by admitting two Lords of hosts. This was the true reading: 
The whole of verse 8 is the word of the messenger : 

" For thus saith the Lord of hosts ; After the glory hath he sent me 
unto the nations which spoiled you ; for he that toucheth you, touch- 
eth the apple of his eye." 

The Lord does not say a word of this, but is spoken of as "he sent 
me," and " his eye," etc. The first two lines of verse 9 are what the 
Lord says. Now read God's words : 



340 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

" For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be 
a spoil to their servants. 11 ( Yerse 9.) 

Now that is all the Lord says. The last two lines are the words of 
the messenger again. Read them : 

"And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me." 

See the words. He speaks of the Lord — "the Lord hath"; and 
tells what the Lord did — he "sent me." 

WOMEN. 

Please explain I. Cor. 14: 34, 35, and oblige a seeker for truth: 
"Let your women keep silence in the churches : for it is not permitted 
unto them to speak ; but they are commanded to be under obedience, 
as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask 
their husbands at home : for it is a shame for women to speak in the 
church." Hannah Biner. 

SPENCERVILEE, OHIO. 

Reply. This was eighteen hundred years ago, when they did not 
preach in seated churches and have things so favorable to order as we 
have them now. Then the preacher stood upon the floor and the 
people stood around much as they do at auction sales now, and the 
women, clustering together, are reproved for disturbing the meetings 
by asking questions of their husbands. The law alluded to was not 
the law of God but the law of the land. I will give a few human 
authorities, men of eminence of other denominations, that you may 
see that I am not desirous of thrusting my own opinions upon you : 

"The apostle refers here to asking questions." (Dr. Adam Clarke, 
Methodist.) 

" By no means intimated that when a woman received any particu- 
lar influence from God to enable her to teach, that she should not 
obey that influence; on the contrary, she was to obey it, and the 
apostle lays down directions in chapter 11 for regulating her personal 
appearance when thus employed. What the apostle opposes here is 
questioning and finding fault." (Dr. A. Clarke, Methodist.) 

St. Paul, still better authority, commends many women as minis- 
ters, and directs the proper dress and personal appearance of women 
when they speak in church. The men are to te.ke off their hats, but 
the women are to wear them, for says St. Paul : 

"Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncov- 
ered dishonoureth her head : for that is even all one as if she were 
shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn : but 
if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be 
covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head. . . . For 
this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the 
angels." (I. Cor. 11:5-10.) 

God has commanded woman to speak, and to forbid her is to set 
ourselves up against God. This neither St. Paul nor any other in- 
spired person could do. But he or they may command men, or 



SECTARIANISM 341 

women, or boys to keep silence and not disturb the meetings. iSTo 
church compels women to keep silence. They sing, and pray, and 
teach, and are useful in church and Sunday school, and are in many 
places preaching. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of April 14, 1877 : 
SECTS AND DIVISIONS. 

The Catholic regards Protestant sects with loathing. He counts 
Protestantism intolerable on account of its divisions. His boast is, 
that Catholics are a unit ; they are all under one management, and 
all submit to one head. This looks well enough from an American 
point of view, but quite changed from an Asiatic standpoint. A 
young missionary of learning and ability encountered a priest in 
Paris who pressed the argument of the unity of the papal church 
and Protestant division, until the Protestant felt annoyed. The 
same priest had been years in Calcutta, and soon returned to his 
church there. He had learned to respect the learning of the Brah- 
mins, though he despised their religion. In Hindostan the Brahmin, 
boasting in a religion a millennium older than the Catholic, meets 
the priest with the objection that. Christians are not agreed among 
themselves. "How," says the reader of the Sanscrit, "am I to know 
which of the great sects is correct ? The English or Anglican church 
seems to have a monopoly of civilization; the Latin church seems 
to have the most abject servitude to the hierarchy, but little moral 
influence ; while the Greek claims antiquity and superior adherence 
to the primitive customs of the church. And yet these three great 
sects do not hold the scepter of power, but a multitude of seemingly 
inferior divisions — Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Metho- 
dists — seem foremost in Christian work and missionary effort ; while 
another class, almost lost sight of for number, — the Unitarians,— sit 
as princes of literature." In vain the priest pleads that these are all 
heretics, or that there is no dispute. "How does it come that the 
heretics are the older sects, or the purer, or the most enlightened, 
while the chief priest of the Catholic Church seems powerless in 
the Vatican, except to fulminate curses upon great nations and 
communities, and to pronounce blessings upon isolated travelers 
and flatterers ? You claim yourselves that he is a prisoner among 
his children, and he delights in excommunicating his own princes. 
Where, in such divisions, is the truth to be found ? Have you no 
common head, no bond of union, no common law, no superior power 
to appeal to? Settle among yourselves what is truth, then we will 
listen to you. " 

The Cathplic, confronted with the weapons which he has so often 
wielded against the Protestant, is at first confounded ; but rallying, 
he pays little attention to the detail of the argument of his adversary, 



342 . SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

being intent upon the best mode of defense. Gradually he brings 
himself to a right-about-face, and advocates divisions. "Jehovah 
himself gave us the example," he says, "in the confusion of tongues. 
The people had union. Jehovah sent division; he confounded their 
language and scattered the people. These divisions among Christians 
may serve a wise purpose. Since the rise of Protestantism, the light 
of science is brighter and learning is becoming universal ; besides, we 
have a common head in Jesus and the Scriptures as a common cen- 
ter, loved and revered alike by Protestant and Catholic." "Bravo! 
bravo!" exclaimed the Brahmin. "Now give me your hand. But 
will not, then, those schismatical sects be lost?" "God forbid!" 
said the pliant priest. "They are numbered by many hundred 
millions, and hold the cardinal doctrines." The Hindoo turban was 
removed, and the priest recognized a European in disguise — a man 
whom he had met in Paris two years before, who had just returned 
from Thibet ; a member of the Anglican church, and one whom the 
priest, when in Paris, had annoyed with the very same arguments 
which he had parried now. The Protestant gave the priest his hand 
and said : ' ' My friend, I congratulate you upon your confession of a 
more catholic creed, but fear that a change of fortune may make an 
adverse change of faith. Go to the bishop and be confirmed before 
you backslide, and remember that God confounds all tower builders 
who would reach heaven by their own religions which God has not 
given. The cause for confounding Babel builders on the Euphrates 
was the same that scattered the power of the babel on the Tiber. 
You say well that it was Jehovah ; but Jehovah will never scatter 
his children while they live in obedience to his laws. Avoid the 
errors of your argument, but cherish the charity of your forced 
confession. Farewell; we meet again in Nekron." 

Brother Summerbell: Please answer through your columns: 
1. What the word dancing means, as spoken of in the Bible? 2. 
Who preached the first sermon ? Trusting to see these questions 
and many others in your valuable paper, I remain your brother, 

James H. Osborn 

Pilot, Illinois. 

Dancing, in the Bible, means "capering, leaping in a rejoicing 
manner." "Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing 
praises unto him with the timbrel and harp." (Psalm 149: 3.) 
Dancing, in the Bible, never means what we mean by promiscuous, 
sexual ball dancing, but natural dancing. Sometimes it meant run- 
ning, jumping, and capering; and sometimes a motion resembling 
jigs, and was counted foolish. "And David danced before the Lord 
with all his might. . . . And Saul's daughter looked through a win- 
dow, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord ; and 
she despised him in her heart. . . . And Michal the daughter of Saul 
came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of 



EXPOSITIONS 343 

Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the 'eyes of the hand- 
maids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncov- 
ereth himself! And David said unto Michal, It was before the 
Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to 
appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel : therefore 
will I play before the Lord. And I will yet be more vile than thus, 
and will be base in mine own sight : and of the maidservants which 
thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. 1 ' (II. Sam. 
6: 14-22.) 

Sermon is not a Bible word. The Greek word is homileo, and is 
translated "talked" (Luke 24: 14), " communed " (Luke 24: 15), 
1 ' talked " ( Acts 20 : 1 1 ), " communed " ( Acts 24 : 26 ). From this 
we have homily ("a sermon' 1 ) and homiletics ("the science of ser- 
monizing"); but a sermon means "talk." The first Bible preacher 
was God. ' ' In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
God, and the Word was God. " The word became appropriated to 
clergymen's talking in the ninth century, by the Catholic king, 
Charlemagne, compelling the ignorant priests to learn by heart the 
Latin sermones of former bishops, and repeat them to the people as 
boys speak pieces in our schools. Three things are indispensable to 
a good sermon: First, a man of God for the speaker; second, a 
message from God to the people; third, the salvation of men for 
the object. 

Dear Brother Summerbell: I send to you some passages of 
Scripture, which I desire you to explain. Announce through the 
Herald, and oblige an unworthy brother. W. H. James. 

Philo, Illinois, March 22, 1877. 

No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which 
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. 

Such texts, contrasted with passages which speak of seeing God, 
teach us that those passages are to be explained to mean that they 
did not see God- personally, or literally ; but saw manifestations of 
him, or saw him in vision, by spiritual vision. m 

Job 7: 9, 10, As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so 
he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall 
return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any 
more. 

Reply. Is not this just the way that we all talk ? We say that 
such and such an one is gone forever ; he will return no more. Then 
we say, like Job again (14:14, 15), "If a man die, shall he live 
again ? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change 
come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a 
desire to the work of thine hands." And Job 19: 26, 27, "And 
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall 
I see God : whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, 



344 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

and not another. " These verbal contradictions occur in all life's con- 
versations: we say that the sun never sets, and make almanacs to 
tell at what hour it sets ; we say the cars are confined to the rail, but 
tell how they run off the track ; we say that the iron remains hard, 
but tell how the kettle boils. A great book without them has never 
been written, because it would destroy the euphony of the story to 
stop and explain everything. Roman Catholics deprive the common 
people of the Bible, for say the priests, "A common man reading, 
'No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit 
for the kingdom of God, ' would think that he must plow right on, 
north or south, in the way he first started, forever and ever." There 
are some things that, after one or two thousand years investigation, 
become settled. One of these is the truth of the Scriptures. The 
shrewdest men who have ever doubted — hundreds of men of 
learning, wealth, and position — have presented these verbal contra- 
dictions from age to age, and they have been as often, answered ; and 
many of these men have become ministers, and died Christians. And 
the Bible stands as a rock in the ocean — eternal. My advice to you 
is to cultivate faith, and to study the Bible prayerfully for salvation, 
remembering that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he 
know them, . because they are spiritually discerned " ; and that God 
has left something to try our faith in him, and if we are inclined to 
doubt, we can find an excuse ; but if we desire faith, he will lead us 
into all truth. 

Brother Summerbell : Brother George McCullough wishes me 
to write you a few lines, requesting you to give your views on sanc- 
tification. S. Overton. 

Christiansburg, Ohio, ]\iarck 31, 1877. 

Reply. Sanctify signifies "to set apart to a holy or religious use." 
"God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." ( Gen. 2:3.) "And 
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the first- 
born. 11 (Ex. 13: 1, 2.) It does not necessarily mean moral perfec- 
tion, as the sanctuary, snuffers, altar, and almost all things were 
sanctified. We are to sanctify the Lord of hosts (Isa. 8: 13), and 
Christ sanctifies himself (John T: 19); but surely he did not make 
himself holy, for he was always holy. We are sanctified when con- 
verted. (I. Pet. 1:2.) Sanctification is a progressive work by the 
Spirit, by the Word, to be desired "wholly" (I. Thess. 5 : 23), which 
includes our body, soul, and spirit— all set apart to God's work. 
The last text implies Christian perfection by the word wholly, and 
it is to be the aim of every true disciple. "Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your* Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5 : 48.) 

Dr. Summerbell : Will you please answer the following ques- 
tions: 1. Do not the entire attributes of any being constitute the 
entire being to whom those attributes belong? 2. If God, our 



EXPOSITIONS 345 

Father, is infinitely perfect in all his attributes, and if the Son of 
God is like him, — of the same spirit and nature as God, — will it not 
follow that the Son of God must be infinitely perfect in all his attri- 
butes ? and, furthermore, a distinct God from God the Father ? 

Reply. No, not unless the Son is infinite also. 

3. If the Holy Ghost is of the same divine nature as God and the 
Son, then does he not possess all the attributes of God and the Son ? 
and does it not therefore follow that he is God, distinct from God the 
Father, and God the Son? Consequently, are we not obliged to 
acknowledge that there are three Gods, while the Bible says there is 
but one ? 

Reply. No, unless the Spirit is a distinct and separate person 
from God the Father, instead of his Spirit, which it is. The Bible 
teaches three : First, God, the Father of all, who gives life to all ; 
second, the Son, who is ever the Son, partaker, mediator, and com- 
municator of the great unseen Father's glory ; third, the wonderful 
Spirit of God, which is made manifest to us in forms (as though the 
rays of the sun should assume forms), as a dove, fire, tongues, seven 
lamps, or seven angels ; but still we are to remember that these are 
only manifestations, but the Spirit in person is God himself. The 
argument about the personality, and always calling the person "he," 
is good to be avoided, as this will show you : — A church union paper 
has just come, from which I clip the following: "Because he 
was actually poured out." How much better to say, "It was 
poured out ! " 

I desire light on Genesis 1 : 26, 27: "And God said, Let us 
make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and 
over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing 
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, 
in the image of God created he him; male and female created he 
them." Compare with Genesis 2 : 5-8 : "And every plant of the field 
before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew : 
for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there 
was not a man to till the ground. . . . And the Lord God formed 
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God 
planted a garden eastward in Eden ; and there he put the man whom 
he had formed." 

Is created the same as formed? If so, how then was there not a 
man to till the ground ? and how is it that in Genesis, first chapter, 
all is finished, yet man is formed afterward ? J. M. Thompson. 

Columbus, Indiana. 

I. Reply. Genesis contains the first records in the world ; they 
have the authority of Moses, but were written long before Moses 
was born. In that early day, writing was hardly known, but the 
story was told by making signs and pictures on wood or stone. The 
first book was probably written by Adam ; this includes Genesis 1 



346 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

and three verses in the beginning of Genesis 2. That made one 
nook — very large then; perhaps larger than one man could carry. 

II. and III. From Genesis 2 : 4 to the end of Chapter 3 we have 
another book, perhaps written by Seth. 

IV. The fourth chapter is another book, by some other author— 
probably Enoch. 

V. The fifth chapter commences back and gives us the story from 
creation to Noah — perhaps by Noah himself, or more probably by 
his son Shem. These four accounts are all true, but a family record 
of the same events, just as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John narrate 
the life of Jesus. Each one goes back, as it were, to the beginning, 
and tells the story in his own way. They differ just as the four 
evangelists do, and agree just as they do. There is no contradiction. 
The proof of many authors is this : 

1. They relate the same events, and go over the same story. 

2. The first calls God, "God," and nothing else. The second 
calls God, "the Lord God.' 1 The third chapter, or writer, calls God, 
simply ' ' God " again. The fourth writer, Chapter 4, calls God, ' ' the 
Lord,' 1 and Chapter 5 restores the name "God" again. These 
uniform variations, with many others, convince me that the book 
has many authors, and that Moses gave it to us much as he found it. 

3. Therefore, your seeming contradiction is only a corroborating 
account by several witnesses. 

Brother Summerbell: Please explain in the Herald I. Kings 
19: 11, 12. Owen Wood. 

Reply. The verses are as follows : 

11. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the 
Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind 
rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord : 
but the Lord was not in the wind : and after the wind an earth- 
quake ; but the Lord was not in the earthquake : 

12. And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in 
the fire : and after the fire a still small voice. 

13. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his 
face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the 
cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What 
doest thou here, Elijah ? 

11. Elijah was told to stand where his great predecessor stood 
{Ex. 19 : 9-16), with whom he came to see Jesus. (Matt. IT: 3.) 

12. The verse teaches us that we are not to regard every great 
power as the presence of God. Wind may rend rocks and moun- 
tains, earthquakes swallow up cities, fire devour wealth, habitation, 
and people ; but we are not to look to these as the presence of 
God. Nothing is more common than to attribute every extraordi- 
nary event to God, ' ' If there is evil in the city, the Lord hath done 
it": "if there is a fire, the Lord kindled it"; "if a wind, the Lord 



EXPOSITIONS 347 

kindled it"; "if an earthquake, the Lord sent it"; "if a child died, 
the Lord killed it." Preachers teach that the Lord comes in the 
wind, the earthquake and the fire. Elijah found that it was not so. 
The Lord was not in the wind, the Lord was not in the earthquake, 
the Lord was not in the fire. 

While the many regard all great outward events, too few listen to 
the "still small voice." 

13. But Elijah wrapped his face,— that is, to the outward world, 
— to be alone with God. The first great revelation of God is to the 
soul of man. 

"There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty 
giveth them understanding." (Job 32 : 8.) 

' That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world." (John 1:9.) 

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned." (I. Cor. 2: 14.) 

And this was the lesson to Elijah. "What doest thou here?" 
Listen, and God will speak to you. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of April 28, 1877 : 

ME^CY ON THE PEOPLE. 

Have mercy on the people. Our papers, our government, our offi- 
cers, our judges, our presidents, all have mercy on the defaulters, 
and forgers, and whisky-ring robbers, and rumsellers, and mail 
robbers, and bank robbers, and counterfeiters, and bankrupts, and 
wife killers, and murderers, and thieves; but none- have mercy on 
the people who are robbed, and swindled, and murdered. Tweeds 
may steal millions, and a tear excites sympathy, while a hundred 
thousand people work years to pay his stealings. Property is unsafe, 
life is unsafe, but all the pity is for the guilty. "Pie had formerly a 
good character" covers the guilt of years of secret stealing. We 
pray you, dear press, divide your pity with the people. Crime must 
be made odious, and criminals be made examples, or you will let 
loose upon us in multitudes men more savage than tigers, more 
dangerous than serpents. Have mercy on criminals! This mis- 
placed sympathy for the guilty increases the number and leads thou- 
sands to ruin. Nothing deters crime like adequate punishment — not 
cruel but certain. "Let no guilty man escape" would thin out our 
State prisons more than the pardoning power, and make property and 
life secure. It is a mercy to the maniac to bind him ; to the thief to 
imprison him; to the murderer to let him die. It is death to the 
community to be constantly interfering with the laws, for the escape 
of the guilty. Those who do so become participants with criminals 
and tear down society. Let the laws be just, even merciful ; let them 



348 • SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

be known and the penalty certain. Then pity the criminal, but chain 
him ; pity the murderer, but punish him so that he may kill no more. 
Then you will have mercy upon the people, the good as well as the 
evil. 

COOK'S LECTURE. 

We publish this week Cook's great effort to prove the trinity, and 
certainly feel humiliated to think that ten thousand men of learning 
rejoice with joy exceeding and full of glory to have found for them in 
the traditions of the prehistoric age of the church one or two doubtful 
proofs that some of the "fathers" (not the grandfathers) are said to 
have said "trinity"— a word which the Lord, or the great divine 
Teacher, or the prophets or apostles have never— it is admitted — 
never said. Why not be satisfied with the Bible? Are the fathers 
better than the Great Father ? Is tradition more sacred than Scripture ? 
Are the fathers better than Jesus? When Brother Cook words his 
trinity in Bible language — that is, as God, and Christ, and inspired 
prophets, and apostles word it, then we will all believe it, for we all 
believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all that the Bible 
says of them. But Brother Cook's new-found proof he will find false 
I fear. Were the fathers to speak they would pronounce it as new 
to themselves as to us, except, perhaps, in some modified form agree- 
ing with the Scriptures. It is not at all wonderful for Pliny to say, 
" They worshiped Christ as God" (a deity). He would say so of us 
were he to read our hymns or hear our songs of praise. Pliny had 
little idea of the true glory which they, or we, give to Christ. He 
was a Roman, and with the Romans worshiped even dead emperors 
as gods. How natural, therefore, to say that the Christians worship 
Christ as a deity ! We do more ; we worship him as the Son of God 
— as greater far than all their deities, dead emperors, and pagan gods ; 
nay, more than all men or angels combined, and yet do not give him 
half the glory due his name divine. 

Do you ask me why I publish the lecture if I do not approve of all 
the proofs? I answer, because it does contain many descriptions of 
the glory and divinity of our dear Savior which are true and in 
accordance with the Bible, and not at all antagonistical in their 
character; and I desire all our readers to possess every true view of 
our blessed Lord. Every true word descriptive of his divinity, every 
illustration of the glory of Christ, is precious, and in Cook's lecture 
there are many. What if there be manifold chaff to the few corns 
of wheat? The wind will blow the chaff away, while hungry souls 
gather up the golden grains. Remember every word that adds 
lustre to the Savior's crown ; brush aside the leaves and cherish the 
beautiful flowers. Oh, that the Christian world would cease to com- 
bat, and all confine their defense to the plain word of God ! Then 
we could all worship together, each echoing the notes of nraise 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT 349 

lifted by the other to our Great Jehovah and his Son divine, our. 
precious Savior. 

S. B. O. writes, "Please to give us your views on endless misery." 

Reply. That is another unscriptural phrase. Why cannot we, a 
Bible people, be satisfied with Bible language. The nearest text to 
this is, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment'' 
(Matt. 25 : 46 ), which is just as truly expressed by St. Paul (II. Thes. 
1:9) as " everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and 
from the glory of his power." Jesus' word, kolasis, means," cutting 
off." It is everlasting (that is, aionios) punishment in Matt. 25 : 46. 

Second Question. Is it right to reason on theology ? 

Reply. Yes. God says, "Let us reason together." 

Third Question. Would the dear Father work in any way that 
would be a failure? 

Reply. We must not judge God too closely by our limited knowl- 
edge. A main enterprise may be a grand success, though the waste 
may make it appear to us a failure. God desires not the death of the 
sinner, yet he dies. All evil is contrary to God, yet it exists. 

Fourth Question. God made man to suit himself, a free agent, and 
man made himself miserable, etc. Does this leave ground for extolling 
the Maker? 

Reply. Yes, if there is more glory than shame and more happi- 
ness than misery, which is the case. 

Fifth Question. I now propose a plan which, if carried out, will give 
another chance. He has provided a remedy for man in this world and 
that to come, and now the only remaining question is, Will this remedy 
be made as effectual as the disease, or will it be cured? And now, 
brother, you must see right here a question, the answer to which is 
momentous beyond the power of thought. Brother, strip your mind of 
everything but this question and answer it. 

Reply. A remedy which in a reasonable time conquers a disease 
is superior to the disease, though corrupt portions of the diseased 
members may slough off. To contend that there must be no loss in 
chaff, or briers, or thorns, or tares, or stubble, or diseased limbs, or 
soul, or body, is contrary to reason, to observation, to the Bible. 
Everywhere we find waste. To prevent loss medicine must not only 
cure but prevent. God did not prevent sin. That is what your logic 
calls for. Explain why he let it come and you will explain why he 
lets it kill. It is contrary to all that we know that such a monstrous 
rebellion against God and man should exist and no loss accrue. Do 
not dodge off out of sight into eternity, but try your logic here. 
Show that the "remedy is as effectual as the disease"; that all 



350 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

• thieves are made honest, all drunkards sober, all murderers humane. 
Do not put off the time, for souls are suffering. Apply your logic to 
present evil, to a world in disobedience and ruin, to millions ages in 
slavery, to millions oppressed, to millions in prisons and dungeons, to 
martyrs, to the sick, to all the suffering, and ask your question, ' • Is 
the remedy as effectual as the disease?" That is, is it a catholicon, a 
cure-all, a universal preventive of evil, so that no enemy sows 
tares, no branches in the vine wither, no trees are cut down and cast 
into the fire, no chaff, no stubble? Then you will have answered 
your owci question, and if you answer in the affirmative, as you 
appear to think, you may change nature, and reform God, and cor- 
rect Jesus 1 preaching, and make a new Bible and a new world. Here 
God desires all to come to the knowledge of the truth. Do they do 
it? This is the will of God, even our sanctification "wholly." Is it 
done? Or shall we judge God and call his work a failure? Just as 
certainly as you live, my brother, God will work in his own way, and 
his work will be no failure, even if you and I are lost. The farmer's 
work is no failure because he throws out the cheat, nor the smith's 
because he casts out the cinders, nor the potter's because he casts 
aside a marred vessel, nor the horticulturist's because he leaves out 
the rotten fruit, and it is just as wise to require the horticulturist to 
give the rotten apples a chance next year, or the gardener to save the 
bad weeds for another trial in his garden, or the father to give the 
rabid dog another trial at his children, as it is to contend that God 
must preserve sinners in their sins to all eternity. Then you could 
say, "Go on killing, murderer; there is no danger; you shall have 
another chance in eternity ; God is bound not to make any failure, 
and must bear with you in eternity till you get ready, one thousand 
years, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one hundred million, and 
millions of millions. God must wait your time here and hereafter." 
God has, indeed, made a failure if you are right. God is put upon 
his honor ! He is the guilty one. He is to be judged, and if he fails 
to save one, to make the remedy as effectual as the disease, he is not 
the good Father. ' ' Your words have been stout against me, saith the 
Lord!" 

The truth is this. A dreadful punishment awaits the wicked. 
There is no hope out of Christ. l 'And this is the record, that God 
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath 
the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 
Precisely how long one may be punished, or what everlasting punish- 
ment, or destruction, or to "utterly perish" may mean, we may not 
know. But this we do know, that Jesus taught a present salvation 
of "to-day" and "now," and warned us that some would be "thrust 
out" too late. A certain minister of your persuasion preached that 
men could not be lost, but that all would repent and be saved in 
eternity. At the close a man of very questionable character ex- 



UNIVERSALISM 351 

pressed his thanks for the sermon. It fully met his wants. He 
desired to live in "the pleasures of sin, 11 but had been in fear. 
(He had lived with his wife and provided for his family.) u But 
now," said he, "the fear is gone. I can sin as long as I want to, 
repent here or hereafter, and be saved whenever I want to. That is 
all I want. I want the experience and enjoyment of sin, and shall 
seek it." He went astray. He did not continue with his family. 
His wife supports herself. His children are scattered. Let us preach 
the gospel and aim at the conversion of souls now, and not destroy 
all our warnings by assuring sinners that they can be saved in distant 
eternity just as well. God gave us no such commission. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 5, 1877: 

"Ah, ha!" said the farmer. " Oh, hoe!" said the corn. 
Drunken wine should be banished from the communion. 
Too drunk to find home, but still hoping to find heaven. 
Hypocrites shun crosses to whine over losses. 

Three English bishops have become total abstinence men. Can the 
Catholics equal this? 

LEARN WAR NO MORE. 

Yet this may not be till men learn to sin no more ; till the few cease 
to oppress the many, and the strong the weak. Never has so much 
been done to avert a war as in the case of the Turko-Russian war. 
Years of negotiation, mediation of nations, councils of statesmen, 
imploring of kings, emperors pleading for mercy for the people, but 
the proud Turk scorned to limit the lawless violence of his ministers, 
and was exasperated at the suggestion of treating Christians like 
men. God grant that right may win, and the oppressors of our 
brethren no longer wield a scepter in Europe. Yet it is terrible to 
think of half a million of men, all skilled butchers, armed with the 
most effective machinery to kill, advancing to deadly conflict, with 
the intention of spending days, weeks, months, and, perhaps, years 
in slaughtering each other, the places of the slain to be filled by new 
candidates for death. No outward form or similarity of construction 
can prove the beastly origin of man if his savage nature cannot. We 
have yet some faint hope for a congress of nations, and the time when 
the police of the world shall be the only armies, and questions of 
oppression or imposition shall be settled in an imperial court, where 
monarchs may be the juries. 

SINNERS. 

Sinners are not the inoffensive unfortunates which many regard 
them, but determined villains, pursuing their victims adroitly and 
relentlessly as the wolf its prey. There a pirate throws to the breeze 



352 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

his black flag to rob the passengers, abuse their persons, and destroy 
their lives. Here a rumseller opens his shop, labeling his poisons and 
placing them attractively to destroy the souls and bodies of his neigh- 
bors and inflict untold evils upon their families. There strong men 
seize their victims and place chains upon them and sell them to per- 
petuate slavery; and there pope and bishops build inquisition dun- 
geons to rob the people of religious freedom, afflict their bodies with 
torture at which fallen angels would blush, and finally burn them to 
ashes. In the Netherlands Catholic nations burn, pillage, outrage, 
and assassinate for forty years, and Geneva men gloat over the 
agonies of Servetus roasting over a slow fire of green wood. No, no ! 
Sin's works are willful. 

CALENDAR, A. D. 30. 

March 23 — Friday, before the full moon, Christ arrived at Beth- 
any. ( Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3.) 

March 24 — Saturday, they made him a supper. ( John 12 : 2.) 

March 25 — Sunday, his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. (Mark 
11:1-10.) • 

March 26 — Monday, he destroyed the fig-tree. (Mark 11 : 12-15.) 

March 27 — Tuesday, the conversation about the fig-tree. (Mark 
11:20.) 

March 28 — Wednesday, sermon. ( Matt. 24 : 25 ; Mark 13:2.) 

March 29 — Thursday, Jesus established the supper. ( Matt. 26 : 
26.) 

March 30 — Friday, he was crucified. 

March 31 — Saturday, he remained with the dead. 

April 1 — Sunday, he arose, and for forty days appeared to his dis- 
ciples ; and on 

May 10 — Thursday, forty days from the time of the supper, he 
ascended. ( Acts 1:9.) 

May 20 — Sunday, fulfilled the promise of the Spirit (Acts 1 : 4), it 
being Pentecost — that is, fiftieth day. 

[I am uncertain concerning the correctness of some points in the 
foregoing "calendar." — J. J. S.] 

CATEGORICAL ANSWERS. 

Owing to the crowds of communications, I will answer some ques- 
tions in the following brief manner to save room. I withhold names 
lest in my brevity I may not present the writer's view. Each will 
know his own question. 

1. Can a man believe or disbelieve at pleasure? No; but passion 
and prejudice affect the power and cause some to disbelieve, though 
they have good evidence. 

2. Is there virtue in the acts of the creature? Yes, or one would 
not be preferred before another. 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED 353 

3. Can a man die before his time? Yes ; the wicked shall not live 
out half their days, and Hezekiah had 6,475 added to his. 

4. Can a man be saved without baptism? Most likely, but it will 
hardly pay to try the experiment. 

5. Does the name make any difference? Perhaps not much, 
therefore it is best to call things as God does. 

6. Is it right to get a divorce? If wedded to yourself and your 
own opinions, yes; if to a woman, no. 

7. Do you allow ministers of the Christian Church to baptize by 
sprinkling? The Christians have no rule to prevent a man's baptizing 
as he and the church and candidate desire. Our people in this 
country at first came principally from the Presbyterians and Metho- 
dists, and sprinkled. Gradually they learned the Bible way, and. 
now practice true baptism of choice and not by compulsion. We will 
have liberty, therefore must grant it. 

8. Was the eunuch a converted man before Philip preached to 
him? Yes, he was converted to God but not to the Christian reli- 
gion, just as Nathaniel (John 1:47) and thousands of "devout 
Jews " and some gentiles yet are. (Rom. 2 : 14.) 

PREDESTINARIAN AND FREE GRACE. 

Free Grace. — Well, Brother Predestinarian, what is the best thing 
emanating from the sovereign will? 

Predestinarian. — God, from all eternity, did unchangeably ordain 
and predestinate whatsoever comes to pass for his own glory. 

F. G. — Wherein does grace appear? 

P. — In this, that God, having decreed and caused all the 
things which exist, and the sufferings involved, did, in his sov- 
ereign grace, pity a very few, and elect them to life, leaving the 
apparently undiminished millions to suffer to all eternity for their 
crimes. 

F. G. — Are they criminals any further than God decreed that they 
should be ? 

P. — No; God did unchangeably predestinate all their actions, and 
the thoughts and causes thereto, so that they were unavoidable. 

F. G. — If I understand you, then, the choice or will is not free. 

P. — Oh, yes! The mind is free. The sinner desires to sin. 

F. G. — But who decreed before he was born that he should be so 
constituted as irresistibly to have those desires? 

P. — The Sovereign Will. u Is there evil in the city, and the Lord 
hath not done it ? " 

F. G.— Then all is of God ? 

P. — All is of God. He predestinates all. 

F. G. — One thing is plain. You have no room for a devil. 

P. — Satan does the will of the predestinating sovereign power. 

23 



354 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Iii Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 12, 1877: 
SELF-EVIDENT. 

Will sects ever cease ? Not while we build up sects. 

Ts the Bible a sufficient rule of faith ? It is, for those who are 
satisfied with the Bible. 

Who are most orthodox ? Those who abide by the Bible. 

Who is the greatest man ? The one who is most Godlike. 

Who are the truest Christians ? Those most Christlike. 

If God foreordains all, what does he foreordain ? All the sin and 
evil of the world ; which is untrue. 

How can God be proved three by the Bible? By reversing its 
meaning. 

What were the people astonished at in Jesus ? "At his doctrine." 

At what are they now astonished ? That some have no doctrine. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 19, 1877 : 

WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 

The present state of the world, as compared with the past, has 
much in it to encourage, and some things to depress. The righteous- 
ness of the common people is very little superior to former ages, but 
it is more general. No one can candidly read the life of Jesus 
without seeing that the common people then were about like good 
people now, their Pharisees much like our Pharisees, and even their 
sinners were very much like ours. The great difference was not so 
much in quality as in quantity. We have more Marys, and Marthas, 
and Nathaniels, and Johns now. The worldly church has more 
Pharisees and the world more sinners. But there is great difference 
in governments, kings, and treatment of the guilty and oppressed. 
Herein the world is much improved, as well as in science and the gen- 
eral diffusion of the Christian religion. Of the morality of the pagan 
nations, I do not speak. The fashionable society in Greece and 
Rome so nearly resembled our worst society that a woman of strict 
virtue became remarkable, and is noted in history as a prodigy. 
When Christianity spread, it encountered licentiousness everywhere, 
and exterminated cruelty; but after the full establishment of the 
state religion, in the sixth century, all the cruelties of paganism were 
turned in upon dissenting Christians, and for twelve hundred years 
the Catholic church practiced cruelties at which pagans would blush. 
The reform in morals, however, increased, and toward the dawn of 
the Reformation learning revived. Colleges and universities were 
founded, and the cultivation of letters was common. The Reforma- 
tion was itself rather the effect than the cause of this revival of 
learning. Indeed, neither were the morals of the common people 
immediately improved, nor their happiness increased, by the Refor- 



PROGRESS 355 

mation ; and could the reformers have reformed the common religion 
by expunging Romanism and retaining the general church, it had 
been infinitely better than the work of schism and separation which 
they feared, and to which they were driven by Romanists. England 
made the effort in the right direction. She sought to preserve the 
church without the pope, but her success was limited, and indeed it 
should have been, when she proceeded to inflict upon the world a 
new creed. The Reformation, as such, was confined to the first 
efforts. The sectarianized crustations were lapses into their former 
fate. The next great effort began a hundred years ago, being an 
effort for biblical religion, personal piety, charity, and common sense. 
Luther began the Reformation as a gospeler, a Bible Christian : but 
timid Melancthon molded a sect. Wesley again began, a Bible man 
— a man of one book. He refused to make a schism or found a sect. 
He lived and died in the English Church. But Melancthons again 
spoiled his work, and Methodists, instead of reforming the church, 
formed a new church and a new creed. Thus every sect, instead of 
reforming the whole, deforms itself. But the tide which swept the 
first from popery sweeps on, taking others from them as it took them 
from popery. 

The greatest reformation is now going on. We Christians boast 
of being the first to organize upon the Bible alone ; but we ourselves 
were not factors, but effects, and the cause still works in many thou- 
sands who bow not to the image of Baal. The Bible Society, the 
Sunday school, the Young Men's Christian Association, liberal press 
with papers of Christian union and church union, and a thousand 
agencies, modify the mighty powers of craft and creed. There 
are to-day thousands of ministers in what are called sectarian 
pulpits, who are at heart pure Bible Christians. They preach the 
Bible, they love the Bible, they love the Christian name, and use it 
incomparably oftener and with more affection than any other. They 
love union; they approve of whatever is. excellent. In the village 
where I live, the Presbyterian minister, an excellent man, receives 
members into the "Christian Church" (his church \ and takes their 
confession to believe the Bible; and the Methodist minister is as 
liberal as I am, and I believe loves the Bible as well. And these 
men are not alone. The whole Christian world is moving forward to 
an advanced position in faith and purity, the word of God is>growing, 
charity is spreading, purity is deepening, reason is welcomed, bigotry 
is despised, Christianity is welcomed to the remotest parts of the 
earth, and a thousand signs speak the progress of Jesus 1 own truth. 
What, then, shall the Christians do ? Move forward ; preach purity 
without party ism; plant churches everywhere, but do not build 
houses in debt, or in doubtful places. Others will soon begin to build 
Christian churches where we do not. God's work does riot depend 
upon us alone. Only our own happiness and salvation may depend 



356 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

upon our working heartily, zealously, truthfully for the true religion 
— giving less grudgingly, sowing less sparingly. The good day is 
coming. We hail the coming age as full of Christian principles. 
We see its signs in every sect ; we read it in every press ; we feel it 
in a growing union, truthful, loving spirit that is possessing the 
whole church. 

SCRIPTURE EXPOSITIONS. 

Brother Summerbell: Explain Hebrews 4: 12, "For the word of 
God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints 
and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 

W. H. 

Micplanation. The word of God is not a dead letter. Jesus says, 
"My words, they are spirit and they are life. 11 St. Paul says, "The 
power of God." It is living and effectual, its truths cutting like a 
sword that cuts either way, and pierces between the soul, or animal 
passions, and spirit, or religious emotions. As a sword (knife) 
between the joints opens to view, so the Word exposes to a man his 
inward character, and shows him the source of his secret devices. 

sermon. 

I. Living power of the word. 

II. Analogy of its efficiency, as compared to a knife used, etc. 

III. The proper power, or glass, in which a man may see himself. 

IV. The wonders it has accomplished. 

QUESTIONS. 

Brother Summerbell: What style of preaching is most produc- 
tive of conversions ? J. T. 

Reply. Direct address to sinners to cease to put off the time, and 
seek God. 

What causes the almost entire absence of conversions with many ? 

J. T. 

Reply. Some preach to instruct, some to attract admiration, some 
to establish in doctrine, some for so much ($0 per year, some to 
exhibit themselves. 

Should we expect conversions during the summer, and when there 
is no special effort? J. T. 

Reply. Yes ! A good minister should labor to have every sermon 
affect some one, and expect some to be converted constantly. 

Brother Jones, of the Fort Wayne paper, advises our people to "put 
the Publishing House business in'the hands of an experienced, judicious 
man." They had Brother Jones himself here once, and why he left we 
never could divine. — Herald of Gospel Liberty. 



CORRESPONDENCE 357 

Plain enough, Doctor, why he left; he was not the man we have 
allusion to. Dr. Summerbell is, probably, the man. If he can beg 

$22,000 from the people these hard times, that will prove it.— Chris- 
tian Age. 

Thank you, Brother Jones, but we need not beg $22,000. We 
have already paid $3, 000, only $1, 000 of which was begged. We are 
confident that if $5,000 were paid, such confidence would be felt 
that many donations and legacies would be received without begging. 
We desire, by industry, economy, and strict business honesty, to 
save the house, and then we hope that no debts will ever be permitted 
to accumulate against it. There is nothing worse for the poor and 
the honest than running in debt. 

Resurrection. — The Christian Union, page 344, says that "St. 
Paul repudiates the resurrection of the body, and that it is unscrip- 
tural and opposed to common sense. What are we to think of 
this?" — I. Kierson. 

Reply. Believe in St. Paul where he says, "There shall be a 
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 1 ' (Acts 24: 
15.) "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in cor- 
ruption; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour; it is 
raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is 
sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural 
body, and there is a spiritual." (I. Cor. 15: 42-44.) Remember 
that it is a resurrection of the dead, and nothing is dead except the 
body. 

Brother Summerbell: Please explain I. John 5: 7 and St. John 
14: 7, through the Herald, and oblige A Friend. 

Reply. I. John 5 : 7, " For there are three that bear record in 
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost : and these three 
are one," signifies that the three — God, and God's Son, and God's 
Spirit — are one; that is, that the three perfectly agree in the testi- 
mony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 

1. God stated it at the baptism in an audible voice : "And lo a 
voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased." 

2. The Spirit confirmed it: "And Jesus, when he was baptized, 
went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were 
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a 
dove, and lighting upon him." (Matt. 3:16.) 

So John understood it and said : "He that sent me to baptize with 
water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit 
descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth 
with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is the 
Son of God." (John 1 : 33, 34.) 



358 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

3. Jesus also bore witness, saying, "I said, I am the Son of God," 
(John 10: 36.) 

Therefore John adds: "If we receive the witness of men, the wit- 
ness of God is greater : for this is the witness of God which he hath 
testified of his Son." 

The text is sometimes used to support the Roman trinity. When 
thus used, God must be added or understood at the end; as, "one 
God." However, it is generally repudiated by trinitarian writers 
now. Dr. Clarke (Methodist) and Barnes (Presbyterian) write 
much against it. [See "Clarke's Commentary" and "Barnes's 
Notes." My explanation, however, furnishes the heads for a Chris- 
tian sermon of doctrine which is true, and safe, and saving. 

In John 14 : 7, "Seen him," is not to be understood so as to contra- 
dict, but to agree with John 1 : 18, "No man hath seen God at any 
time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, 
he hath declared him." We see God in his Son. Jesus speaks in 
like manner of us. Read carefully the following words : ' ' He that 
receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth 
me receiveth him that sent me." (John 13: 12.) So also he 
confirmed this spiritual identity: "That they, all may be one; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one 
in us." (John IT: 21.) We must be careful not to take these texts 
out of their loving relations, designed for love and union, and use 
them to promote bigotry and division. 

Brother Summerbell, : Please answer, through the columns of the 
Herald, first, what is the meaning of "poor " in Luke 4: 18 ? Does it have 
reference to poor in spirit, or worldly goods? John J. Lamon. 

Reply. Luke 4: 18, 19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he 
hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the 
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them 
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The 
word "poor" has the common meaning, as poverty. It may be 
applied also to the poor in spirit, by inference, as in Matthew 5 : 3, 
' ' Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. " 
But it literally refers to the indigent — to those of little worldly 
means. Christ always spake kindly of the poor. Jesus, "though 
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his 
poverty might be rich." There is no greater work on earth than 
ministering to the poor. Such is ine work of Bradley, the philan- 
thropist, of Boston. 

Second, also explain II. Cor. 5: 21, "For he hath made him to be sin 
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of 
God in him " ; that is, he hath made him to be sin for us. 

John J. Lamon. 

Corydon, Indiana, April 27, 1877. 



ATONEMENT 359 

Reply. The word "sin" is, in the original, amartia, which also 
signifies "sin-offering," as Hebrews 9:28. Without sin means 
without a sin-offering. He came the first time without sin. Things 
in the Bible are called, for just what they represent or stand for ; as, 
seven lean kine are seven years of famine, three baskets are three 
days, that rock was Christ, the word was God, the seven golden can- 
dlesticks are the seven churches, this (bread) is my body, this cup is 
my blood. Jesus came as our lawyer, to take, as it were, our place, 
to stand for us, to answer in court when the prisoner's name is called, 
our advocate, our counsellor, and in this sense stands for us and 
"bears our griefs, carries our infirmities, etc. (Isa. 53.); so that we 
have redemption in his blood. 

Brother Summerbell: You will please explain "vicarious atone- 
ment," as pertaining to the death and suffering of our Savior for our 
sins, through the Herald. 

Higginsport, April 23, 1877. 

Reply. Vicarious is an unscriptural word, and unscriptural words 
mark unscriptural doctrines. It means "in place of another," as a 
vicar in the pulpits of Europe is one who preaches for, or in place of, 
another. Atone means "at one"; that is, agreed. Atonement 
means "agreement, concord, reconciliation." So if Christ made 
"vicarious atonement," he substituted himself to become reconciled 
to God and saved, instead of us. Most men-made doctrines are 
without sense, reason, or revelation. 

The atonement ( Rom 5 : 11) is a leading doctrine of the Bible, but 
it is the very opposite of vicarious atonement. Vicarious atonement 
God receives; atonement we receive. (Rom. 5:11.) Vicarious 
atonement reconciles God ; in atonement we are reconciled to God. 

The following texts express the true atonement: "By his stripes 
we are healed " ; His blood ' ' cleanseth us from all sin " ; " Made nigh 
by the blood of Christ." And the, following hymns sing the true 
atonement : 

"There is a fountain filled, " etc. 

"Behold the love, the grace of God, 
Displayed in Jesus' Precious blood." 

Philosophy of Atonement. — The atonement by Christ is God's 
way of reconciliation. 

Sin is a mortal evil, resulting in death ; therefore, God, in granting 
pardon or deliverance from death, demands the sign of death for 
many reasons. 

1. It humbles the sinner. 

2. It keeps him ever in mind that he holds his life by grace. 

3. The blood of Christ (not the drops literal) affects the con- 
sciences of men. 

4. It is God's chosen remedy for sin, by which he moved a world 



S60 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

to repentance, and by which he may be just while he pardons the 
penitent. "Christ and his cross are all our theme." 

Brother N. Summerbell: Please give me your views of Eccl. 
12: 7. And if the spirit returns to God at death, shall it then be judged 
and take its final home or not? Please give your views through the 
Herald, and thus interest its readers through this part of the country, 
as it has become a question here. David Hall. 

Johnson City, Missouri, April 6, 1877. 

Reply. The verse reads as follows: "Then shall the dust return 
to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall return unto God who gave 
it." This is an emphatic phrase, full of plain Bible allusion. Dust 
to dust, spirit to spirit — "as it was." Now see how it was in the 
beginning: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man 
became a living soul." (Gen. 2: 7.) "Breath" here is from ruach y 
and your text (Eccl. 12 : 7) says " the spirit," but the original is more 
emphatic. It says that ruaeh ( that is, that spirit breathed into man 
by God) returns to God who gave it. The sentence was, "Dust to 
dust." "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." (Gen. 
3: 19.) For, as St. Paul says, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorrupt! on." 
(I. Cor. 15 : 50.) "Shall it then be judged ? " No. St. Peter says, 
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and 
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own 
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness 
unto the judgment of the great day." ( Jude 6.) There is no hurry 
about the judgment ; it takes place at the last day. Jesus says, ' ' The 
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." 
(John 12: 48.) This is not the last day of life, for St. Paul says, 
"After this the judgment." It cannot mean the first day of eternity 
except to those who are alive at Christ's coming. It must, therefore, 
be the final judgment. In confirmation of this we are taught that 
the dead are yet to come to judgment, which were not true if every 
man were judged immediately after death. " Yerily I say unto you, 
It shall be more tolerable for the- land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the 
day of judgment, than for that city." (Matt. 10: 15.) So of Tyre 
and Sidon and the Queen of the South, etc. There is a set time for 
judgment. "He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge 
the world." (Acts 17: 31.) "The time of the dead, that they 
should be judged." (Rev. 11:18.) "Final home." Yes, when 
the spirit returns to God, it has gone to its final home. The "gulf" 
cannot be passed. Yet Lazarus may ascend to higher glory, and 
Dives be cast into the "second death" in that day when we receive 
the adoption, to wit: the redemption of the body. Prepare! pre- 
pare! prepare! 



RUSSIA AND TURKEY 361 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 26, 1877: 

THE OUTLOOK. 

The whole world is in commotion, Two of the mightiest empires 
in the world are in deadly conflict, and five others are liable to be 
involved. Russia and Turkey are so equally matched that no person 
can tell which will conquer. In available population Turkey has the 
advantage, Russia only in government. The advantage of territory 
is all on the side of Turkey. Russia is long, cold, scattered inland, 
costly for transportation, much of it sterile, barren, distant, and una- 
vailable, with no adequate coast or harbor. She is hemmed in and 
crippled in ocean privileges. Turkey is close, compact, central, with, 
plenteous water privilege, the grandest empire in the world. The old 
Roman Empire had the Mediterranean Sea for its center, and so 
much of Europe, Asia, and Africa as were within a few hundred or a 
thousand miles bordering it. The reader will comprehend the mag- 
nitude of the Turkish Empire when we tell him that it comprises the 
capital, with nearly all of the eastern Roman Empire, taking the 
eastern end of the Mediterranean for a center, and all the countries 
north, east, and south, not only in Europe but also in Asia and Africa. 
The Turkish Empire is bounded west by the Adriatic Sea and Italy, 
north by Austria and Russia, east by Persia, west and south by the 
Sahara Desert in Africa, embracing nearly all of eastern Europe, 
southwestern Asia, and much of northern Africa, including most of 
ancient Greece, all of Asia Minor, Palestine, and Syria east to Persia, 
and south including Egypt and much of the best territory in North 
Africa, altogether enough empire for twenty kingdoms. And all this 
immense and highly cultivated territory, cursed by half a millennium 
of misrule, is not scattered like the British Empire, nor inland, cold, 
desert, and remote like Russia, but its countries are the ancient gar- 
dens of the world, the centers of ancient science and civilization, the 
sacred scenes of the birth of religion, the home of all prophets, the 
land of history, poetry, and the arts, navigation and architecture, the 
very bosom and center of religion and civilization, the heart of the 
world. The Mohammedans, who abhor Christians, were enabled to 
conquer this immense territory from three causes : 

1. The Roman state had adopted a doubtful creed, and outlawed 
all who refused to sign it. These, thus persecuted, welcomed Mo- 
hammed as a deliverer. 

2. The Mohammedans were skillful, brave, and earnest. 

3. The Latin Christians were jealous of the Greeks, and glad to 
see these ancient " heretics" subdued. 

This bigotry and jealousy has enabled the worst government in the 
world to hold the best of Europe, Asia, and Africa for hundreds of 
years, and unjustifiable jealousies of Russia caused English Protest- 
ants and French Catholics to fight side by side with the Mohamme- 



362 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

dan infidels to maintain the barbarous Turks in their oppression of 
the ancient Christians and the devastation of Bible lands, and now 
would rejoice to see single-handed Russia slaughtered, though the 
effect of such misguided jealousy might be the union of Mohammedan 
powers, the conquest of western Europe, the further destruction of 
Christ's religion, and the permanent establishment of Mohammedan 
empire over the world. But the cry is, Russia absorbed Poland! 
Well, who absorbed Scotland, and subdued Ireland, and gobbled up 
India, and even lately seized, without a blow, all that beautiful coun- 
try of Beloochistan directly north on the Indian Ocean. The cry is, 
Russia wants an outlet south, and would seize Constantinople ! Of 
this there is no proof, except that all can see that she ought to have 
it. Her religion is the same as that of the native Christians there, 
and they prefer her protection ; therefore, they should have it. Also, 
one of the most unjust measures in the world is the conspiracy of 
other powers to keep the Russian Empire and eighty millions of 
people shut in from the sea in order to pet the keepers of seraglios 
and the worst carpet-bag government in the world by protecting them 
in Constantinople, and thus depriving the civilized world of the 
united advantages which would accrue to all were the Turkish 
Empire brought under Christian civilization, and thus opened to 
enlightened commercial relations with the world. 

MANNER OF PRAYER. 
CHRIST TBACHETH TO PRAY. 

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when 
he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as 
John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, 
say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us 
day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive 
every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but 
deliver us from evil. ( Luke 11 : 1-4.) 

By this Ave learn, first, that John taught his disciples how to pray ; 
and, second, that the early disciples felt the need of instruction in 
prayer ; third, that Jesus taught, them the correct manner of prayer. 
We have several accounts of the lesson. That they do not verbally 
agree signifies that only the substance of what Jesus said is given. 
Matthew's form is considered the best. It is as follows : 

After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father which art in heaven, 
Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 
earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive 
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into tempta- 
tion, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the 
power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their tres- 
passes, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not 
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 
(Matt. 6:9-15.) 



lord's prayer 363 

President Craig once said : 

The "Lord's Prayer," in the Greek of Griesbach's revision of Mat- 
thew's gospel, contains fifty-eight words, represented by the following 
fifty-eight single and hyphened English words. As a matter of fancy, 
the English words are here given in the very order of the Greek words, 
and in capitals after the manner of the ancient manuscripts. The words 
printed in ITALIC capitals represent meaning implied in the Greek, but 
having no word wholly appropriate to its expression. The bracketed 
words [father] and [bread] are not expressed in the Greek, but indicated 
by the structure of the sentences. The Greek word corresponding to the 
last is of the singular number and masculine gender, and, having the 
definite article connected with it, should be understood to refer to an 
evil personality rather than to abstract evil or badness, as in Matt. 13 : 19, 
38, "the wicked one"; I. Cor. 5:13, "that wicked person," and in other 
passages^ where in the Greek the same words are used as are translated. 

Griesbach rejects the "doxology" of the "Lord's Prayer" from the 
text of his revision of the Greek New Testament. With most other 
critics he regards the "doxology " as having formed no part of the prayer 
originally taught the disciples by the Master: 

FATHER OF-VS — THE [father] IN THE HEAVENS! SANC- 
TIFIED-BE THE NAME Oi^-THEE ; COME THE KINGDOM 
CXF-THEE; BE-DONE THE WILL Oi^-THEE AS IN HEAVEN 
AND UPON THE EARTH; THE BREAD OF-VS THE FORE- 
BEING [bread] GIVE US TODAY; AND REMIT US THE 
DEBTEDNESS OF-JJS AS AND WE REMIT TO-THE DEBTORS 
O.F-US; AND NOT M A Y- THO C7-IN BRING US INTO TEMPTA- 
TION, BUT RESCUE US FROM THE YNYL-ONE. (Matt. 6:9-13.) 

The common rendering as found in our translation is, however, the 
best form for use. It can hardly be used too often, and is certainly 
the best form of prayer known. I commend its use, especially where 
a person desires a form or where he feels incompetent to frame 
words acceptable. Let it often be heard in the closing of the Sunday 
schools. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND ITS WORK. 

1. First named : "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the 
waters." (Gen. 1:2.) 

2. A striving spirit from the first: "And the Lord said, My 
Spirit shall not always strive with man." ( Gen. 6:3.) 

3. It caused men to prophesy: "When the spirit rested upon 
them, they prophesied . . . But there remained two of the men in 
the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other 
Medad : and the spirit rested upon them ; and they were of them that 
were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle : and they prophe- 
sied in the camp." (Num. 11 : 25, 26.) 

4. It is promised to all flesh: "And it shall come to pass after- 
ward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, 
your young men shall see visions : and also upon the servants and 
upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." 



364 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

5. Even to all afar off: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, 
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the 
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." (Acts 2: 
38, 39.) 

6. It may precede baptism: "Can any man forbid water, that 
these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as 
well as we?" ( Acts 10 : 47.) 

7. It is given in answer to prayer : " If ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children : how much more shall your 
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? " 
(Luke 11:13.) 

8. By prayer the apostles imparted it : "They were baptized, both 
men and women. . . . Peter and John : who, when they were come 
down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost : (for 
as yet he was fallen upon none of them : only they were baptized in 
the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, 
and they received the Holy Ghost." (Acts 8 : 12-17.) 

9. "Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the 
hearing of faith ? " ( Gal. 3:2.) 

10. It may be grieved : "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, 
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Eph. 4 : 30.) 

11. "Quench not the Spirit." 

Brother Summerbell: Please explain the following through the 
Herald: "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, 
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (Acts 7: 59.) S. G. Francis. 

Girard, Erie County," Pa. 

Reply. There is no part of this requiring explanation, except that 
Stephen prayed to Christ, and that we Christians approve of his 
prayer. We do ! Jesus represented Dives as praying to Abraham, 
and two-thirds of all the trinitarians in the world ( Greek and Ro- 
man) pray to the Virgin Mary. Now, if these, with all their learn- 
ing, pray to a dead woman, they should not reproach us when once 
or twice they find a short prayer addressed to the divine Savior, 
though Jesus did say, "In that day ye shall ask me nothing." ( John 
16:23.) 

Did he call Jesus God ? 

Reply. I will refer a whole list of this class of texts to trinitarians 
for reply. Any you choose. Dr. Clarke ? Very well; he is a Meth- 
odist. Dr. Clarke says of these texts as follows : 

Acts 7:59: "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and 
saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." "The word God is not 
found," etc., "not genuine, and should not be inserted." (Dr. Adam 
Clarke.) 



I. JOHN 5:7 365 

Acts 20 : 28 : "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the 
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to 
feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own 
blood. " "We grant that the greater evidence appears to be in favor 
of — feed the church of the Lord." ( Dr. Adam Clarke.) 

I. Thn. 3 : 16 : "And without controversy great is the mystery of 
godliness : God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen 
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, 
received up into glory." "We are perplexed by various readings on 
'God was manifest in the flesh.' Several MSS. and versions and 
fathers have it loJiich or who — as l which was manifest in the flesh/ '' 
{Dr. Adam Clarke.) 

The Catholic Bible omits the word "God." 

I. John 5:7: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." 
"It stands on no authority sufficient to authenticate any part of a 
revelation professing to have come from God." {Dr. Adam Clarke.) 

Rev. 1:11: "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the 
last." "This whole clause is wanting in ABC, thirty-one others, 
etc., etc. Griesbach has left it out of the text." (Dr. Adam Clarke.) 

I quote Clarke because he is orthodox and known, and his com- 
ments on these texts can be found in any Methodist minister's 
library. Can you find another doctrine that all of its peculiar texts 
are confessed forgeries ? I desire to add only this, that it is a little 
remarkable that every single proof -text that can, with the least force, 
be adduced against the Christians, is a confessed forgery. We name 
it with pain, yet with a hoping faith that God protects his own truth. 
Only this we plead, that those who build upon such texts confess that 
they are building on sand, and should not quote them against us who 
build upon the Rock. A good answer for Christian ministers to give 
is, "Let us see what Clarke, or Barnes, or your own authors say 
about it.'' 

BAPTISM. 

Brother Summerbell : There is quite a furor here about what you 
said at the water last Sunday. Will 3^011 please give me the truth of it? 
Some of the people report that you challenged our minister to go into 
the water as you did and not be baptized. J. Dykes, Jr. 

Reply. I meant to say nothing offensive. I said not one word 
about your minister ; I respect him. What I said was this : 

No minister can do what the people did in the New Testament and 
not be baptized. (1) They went out (2) to the river "Jordan," 
(3) to where "there was much water." They " went down . . . into 
the water " ; they were ' ' buried with him by baptism " : their k w bodies 
washed with pure water"; "they were raised up again"; they "went 
up straightway out of the water" ; they were then "brought into his 
house." This is not Greek or Latin, but plain English. ' It tells just 



366 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

what they did. All we ask of any minister is to do it. Let him go 
out to the river, etc., and go through all these motions and steps, and 
if he is not baptized, we will not ask him to be. Let him try it. If 
he only gets sprinkled it will not hurt him. That is what I said. 
Kas your minister done it? If not, let him try it before all the 
people ! Of what is he afraid ? 

"gods" or "god." 

Dr. Summerbedl : I am not a member of your church, but I am a 
trin itarian, yet I coufess that I am uot clear as to how many persons I 
worship. I try to worship God the Father, and God the Son, and God 
the Holy Ghost, and the very man Christ Jesus. Will you explain 
whether these four are all one God or whether only the first three are 
one God ; and if only the three are God, then is it right to worship the 
man Christ Jesus? Please answer through the Herald. 

John A. Young. 

Reply. I refer the writer to Rev. Joseph Cook, of Boston, who 
has taken this whole subject under scientific investigation. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 2, 1877 : 

RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 

The Episcopal Homilist prefers that only such pagans may be 
converted as unite — that pagans may remain pagans rather than 
that they be converted to other churches than the Episcopal. Bap- 
tists, in receiving Methodist ministers, reordain them, because they 
have not belonged to a New Testament church, and were ordained 
also before they were baptized. Presbyterians excommunicate Mr. 
Miller because, though he believes that Christ is God, yet he, like 
Luther and Stuart, is opposed to a plurality of persons as God, and 
also because he thinks that the soul perishes with the body, or may 
perish. Baptists reject other Christians from communion. Disciples 
deny that unbaptized believers are pardoned ; also, that any but the 
Disciples is the true church, or really preaches the gospel. Catholics 
say that out of their church there is no ordinary possibility of salva- 
tion, and suppress free churches and schools where they have the 
power. Current conversation says that the " Episcopal Church is as 
bad as the Roman ; " and many hate Russia and prefer the sanguin- 
ary Turk, because it is falsely reported that Russia does not toler- 
ate the sects ; and, worse than all, many are prejudiced against the 
Greek Christians because they hear that they are not as prosperous 
and intelligent as Protestants after being oppressed, robbed, and 
murdered over four hundred years — not sympathizing with them in 
their sufferings or admiring them for retaining the Christian faith 
and name during a martyrdom of centuries. Swing is brought before 
the inquisition in Chicago, McCune in Cincinnati, and Miller in 
Princeton, and Porters and Skinners show what they would do had 
they the power. What shall we say, then — that ignorance and 



BIGOTRY DISAPPEARING 367 

bigotry are in the ascendant ? By no means ! In all these churches 
the multitudes of ministers are true-hearted men — men who love 
God, and endeavor to be true followers of Jesus, and labor to do good 
in the spirit of the blessed Redeemer; but the bigots are fossils of 
former ages — mere vestiges of the dark ages. The true ministers of 
these monopolies of grace may not govern in ecclesiastical courts, but 
that is not because they are in the minority, but because the heavy 
wheels of the hierarchy sink deep in the old legal ruts of church 
legislation. But they do conquer by character, and will reign in the 
long run. Communities are converted slowly. It was a great while 
before the Roman Church found out that she had always been the 
friend of the negro slave. A great while elapsed before pro-slavery 
pulpits discovered that they had always been persecuted for aboli- 
tionism. It was a long time before the majority of men found that 
they could live without intoxicating drinks, but it is coming around. 
So truth will triumph, and the widely diffused spirit of love and 
union which crops out in union papers, Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciations, and union meetings of sects, and meetings of ministers, and 
unions for revivals, and union Sabbath-school work, and in thousands 
of forms, must triumph. Christian ministers must persevere. Have 
faith, and fear not. The Lord is on our side. Our path is named 
Progress. To leave it is to go back ; to go forward is the way of all 
reform, and the end is heaven. Better eat a dry crust, and sleep on 
the bare floor, and fight the good fight of faith than to mar the beau- 
tiful picture of progress by turning back to the flesh-pots of Egypt or 
to dance around Aaron's golden calves. 

Brother Summerbell : Please answer the following questions : 
Do trinitarians try to answer the following question : How could 
Christ distinguish between sinning against the Son and sinning against 
the Holy Ghost? If so, what is their answer? A. L. Fergason. 

Reply. No ! On the common theory there are three divine spirits 
— God, and the "very God' 1 part of the Son, and the third person. 
One is as much a spirit as the other, and equally holy. The point 
made is this : Sin against the Holy Ghost consists in so resisting the 
Spirit and grieving it as to go ourselves beyond the bounds of its 
operation and be left in spiritual darkness and death. 

Brother Summerbell : What^do you think of Mr. Miller's deposi- 
tion from the Presbyterian ministry ? J. B. 

"Resolved, That Mr. Miller be, and hereby is, suspended from the 
ministry of the Presbyterian Church until such time as he shall make 
manifest to the satisfaction of the presbytery his renunciation of the 
errors he holds and his solemn purpose no' longer to promulgate them." 

Reply. Mr. Miller is charged with teaching that * l the soul is not 
immortal ; that at the death of the body it dies and becomes extinct 
until the resurrection; that there is but one person in the Godhead." 



368 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Mr. Miller gave notice of an appeal to the synod. I think that Mr. 
Miller, like those who deposed him, is in error.. Though the Bible 
does not state that the soul is immortal, it does teach that men cannot 
kill the soul. (Matt. 10 : 28.) Also, if Godhead expresses the divine 
nature, as manhood does the human nature, then, as the Son of God 
is in the spirit of the same nature as the Father, he may be said to 
partake of the Godhead, or God nature. The presbytery did right in 
deposing Mr. Miller. The only wrong is that they did not exclude 
others who are unsound. It was seventy heads that Jehu had laid 
in two heaps, but Swing, McCune, and Miller hardly make one heap, 
and only the last was fully decapitated. 

Brother Summ erbele : Can a true follower of Christ ever be lost ? 
In your answer please take into consideration the following verses: 
John 17:11, 15, 17, 20. A. B. Fergason. 

Reply. These verses prove the danger of being lost ; for if there 
Iiad been no danger then Jesus would not have prayed for them. 
Prayer for salvation implies danger of loss. Also, prayer does not 
insure. Jesus prayed three times for the cup to be removed. Yet a 
true follower ( remaining true ) cannot be lost. But some are as those, 
John 15 : 2-6 ; some are like those, I. Cor. 10 : 2-6, 11 ; or like those, 
Horn. 11:17, and take heed to Rom. 11:21. Wherefore (see 
I. Cor. 10:12), if "once in grace, always in grace" were true, all 
were holy, for all were once in grace. JesuS answered correctly 
Matt. 4:6, 7. We must not try the angels unnecessarily. 

Brother Summerbell : I like the Herald; I find in it many things 
interesting and instructive, and am sure that nothing will do more good 
in spreading the influence of the religion of the Bible than a kind and 
loving way of seeking after truth. Many illustrations drawn out by 
inquirers are very helpful. There is one thing in regard to the doctrine 
of the atonement that mystifies many persons, notwithstanding all that 
has been written and said of it. It is this : In man's sin and fall he 
knowingly disobeyed God's law, and God, dealing with him as account- 
able for what he did, promised to inflict the penalty. All must see that, 
in a legal sense, something happened to man. Hitherto he was in a 
state of justification and that of works. The reward had been reckoned 
of debt. He had obeyed and lived by obedience. But now all is 
changed. As a subject he is guilty of contempt. What is necessary, 
according to God's government, to purge him of this contempt? Just 
here seems the most interesting part of the inquiry. Was the cove- 
nant entered into between the Fattier and Son in relation to man's 
redemption of such a nature as to require some stroke of the sword, which 
seems to be recognized as the symbol of the integrity and stability of all 
governments, to fall on him who undertook the work? The Bible 
seems to teach something of this kind. Something like an equivalent of 
what the sinner deserves has fallen on Jesus. This point is pivotal and 
vital to the whole system of salvation by grace. And is this inconsistent 
with the harmony of the divine attributes? 

Give us the true light. When I can span it I will respond on the 
Delhi plan. 

G. Haines. 



NATURE, REVELATION, AND SCIENCE 369 

Reply. Your article is good enough without reply. Conceive 
yourself to have a knowledge of God's nature and man's sin, and dis- 
grace, and ruined state. Then conceive yourself learning that God 
will send his Son to feel our sorrows, experience our mortality and 
weakness, share our sorrows and disgrace, and die to bring us to God, 
and there is not a term of atonement used in the Bible which you 
would not feel falls short of expressing the great love and sacrifice. 
We must magnify, not diminish, if we would be benefited and blest. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty, June 9, 1877: 
THE CONFLICT. 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the 
earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of 
the deep. (Gen 1: 1, 2.) 

Some scientists have sadly mistaken their mission, and insisted 
that there is a conflict between religion and science. The conflict is 
between science and her two preceptors — nature and religion. These 
both teach the same thing, but science has been long in learning their 
lesson. Revelation taught years ago that in the dateless beginning 
God created all things. Nature taught the same, but science thought 
that it understood the date. It thought that it found the same date 
in rocks and hills. But nature taught no such lesson ; neither did 
revelation. And there is not a mistake made by scientists of past 
ages in revelation but that they have made the self -same blunder in 
the study of the book of nature. 

Science signifies "knowledge," and par excellence "classified 
knowledge." Classified knowledge now recognizes the following 
order of nature : 

1. Matter — gaseous, dark, and uniform. 

2. Creative factors — of internal fires,, volcanoes, earthquakes, 
and floods. 

3. The deep animated with infusoria and life. 

4. Light. 

5. The separating or assorting of matter into clouds, and seas, 
and dry land. 

6. Vegetation. 

7. The sun, moon, and stars in the heavens. 

8. Birds and fishes. 

9. Animals and men. 

But science was long in learning this lesson, though it is the order 
of Genesis 1, and fully revealed in the book of nature. There is an 
infancy of our race just as there is an infancy of our persons, and no 
revelation can impart more knowledge than man's capacity by science 
can receive. 

24 



370 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Jesus constantly told his disciples that he would rise from the dead, 
yet they could not perceive the truth, nor realize it at first. So all 
the lessons of creation are in nature and revelation; but men are 
slow to learn. 

The Bible taught that man has existed about six thousand years'; 
science could trace his history about that period, and so concluded that 
to be the age of the world or matter. The Bible called it a sphere or 
ball ; but it looked flat. That is what science used to say ! Nature, 
it thought, taught this. The great trouble with science was that it. 
read nature wrong, and then attributed its lessons to revelation. 
Nature and revelation proceed from the same creation, and these 
must agree in true science, for they are one in fact, and one with 
perfect science, one with celestial science, one with science as existing 
in God. The only conflict is with crude science, as it exists in Draper, 
whereby he, as seeing through a glass darkly, sees a conflict between 
the knowledge of nature and the knowledge of revelation, the fault 
in both cases being, not in nature or in revelation, but in our unscien- 
tific knowledge of them ; that is, the fault is in our knowledge of the 
Bible and nature. 

I state this as reasonable : It is reasonable that the fault is not in 
nature. As well may the artist who fails to produce a true likeness 
say the fault is not in the picture, but the original ; that is, that the 
man is wrong in not looking like the picture; that the fault is in 
the form, and not the profile ; in the model, and not the statue ; in 
the landscape, and not the painting; in nature and revelation, and 
not in erring science. We know that nature and revelation are per- 
fect, and we faiow as well that human knowledge, that is, our 
science, is imperfect. We see through a glass darkly. We know 
in part, and we prophesy in part. 

The Bible is equal to the highest science, and science, as it becomes 
perfect, comes back to the Bible, as shown by the following illus- 
trations : 

Science has now learned that all things living had an origin, gen- 
esis. Revelation told that six thousand years ago. 

Science now finds a first cause, a force, or God. Revelation told us 
that six thousand years ago. It said, '•' In the beginning God created 
the heaven and the earth. 1 ' (Gen. 1:1.) 

Science now says that the earth was at first in a gaseous state, 
formless and crude. Revelation said six thousand years ago, "the 
earth was without form, and void." ( Gen. 1:2.) Nature and reve- 
lation always taught this ; but science misunderstood both. 

Science now teaches that the rocks and hills were once in a molten 
state. Revelation says that * ' the hills melted like wax." ( Ps. 97 : 5. ) 
This nature and revelation agreed in long ago, and science now sees it. 

Science now says that some rocks were formed in the water, and 
that the mountains were upheaved from the sea. Revelation taught 



SCIENCE AND REVELATION 371 

thousands of years ago that the earth was at first a ''deep," and that 
darkness was upon the face of the deep. (Gen. 1:2.) "And God 
said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one 
place, and let the dry land appear : and it was so. And God called 
the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called 
•he Seas: and God saw that it was good." And Psalm 104:5-7: 
"Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be 
removed for ever. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a gar- 
ment : the waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they 
fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away." 

Science now teaches that darkness was first, and that light became. 
Revelation six thousand years ago said that. ' ' God said, Let there 
be light : and there was light." ( Gen. 1:3.) 

Science now teaches that the first forms of life were in the water. 
Revelation said six thousand years ago that the spirit of God brooded ; 
that is, life-giving power from God was upon the face of the waters. 
This word " brooded, "' in the Hebrew pronounced rachaph, our 
translators translated moved, and more learned men traced in it 
the first life, ages before scientists, without the Bible, had that 
knowledge. 

Nature now teaches scientists that at first all was in a gaseous, 
complicated state, air and earth and water mixed, and that these 
became assorted and separated. Revelation says that "God said, 
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide 
the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and 
divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters 
which were above the firmament : and it was so. And God called the 
firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the 
second day." Nature and revelation agree, as science is coming to 
see. 

Nature now teaches scientists that in the formation of the earth, 
volcano, fire, earthquake, etc., were the great factors, and the moun- 
tains of rock were melted. Revelation taught four thousand years 
ago that "the hills melted like wax." (Ps. 97 : 5.) 

Nature now teaches science that the earth's center is fire. Job 
said four thousand years ago, Under it is turned up as it were fire. 
"As for the earth, out of it cometh bread : and under it is turned up 
as it were fire." ( Job 28:5.) 

Infidels sing peans of praise to La Place and others, that nature 
teaches that light existed before the sun. In revelation we read, 
"The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted 
for joy." These sung praises to God, who said, "Let there be fight " 
the first day, and formed the sun in the heavens the fourth day. 

For a long time science contended that the Bible asserted falsely, 
that the earth was under water by the flood, but Peter said, "For 
this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the 



372 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in 
the water : whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with 
water, perished : but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by 
the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of 
judgment and perdition of ungodly men." The revelation is that the 
world of the antediluvians was destroyed by water, but our earth or 
part of the earth is to be destroyed by fire, the fire of the day of judg- 
ment and perdition of ungodly men, when the great survival of the 
fittest will be manifest. 
Science now claims the order of creation to have been : 

1. Existence of matter in a gaseous state, earth, water, etc. So 
the Bible taught six thousand years ago. 

2. Sea-life was first developed. This the Bible taught six thou- 
sand years ago. 

3. Light ; and this the Bible said six thousand years ago. 

4. The atmosphere was separated from the waters, and the waters 
divided between flood and cloud. This the Bible taught six thousand 
years ago. 

Science now says that the stars are "innumerable/ 1 The Bible 
said so thousands of years ago. 

From the beginning science taught apparent truth. Illustration : 
The earth appeared to be flat, and for four thousand years scientists 
thought so. But the Bible said of God, "He sitteth upon the sphere 
of the earth." (Isa. 40:22. Gesenius.) "He set a compass upon 
the face of the depth. 1 ' (Pro v. 8:27.) If our translation made 
' ' sphere " to read circle or compass, that was the fault of science not 
revelation. 

Science long taught that the earth rested upon elephants, ser- 
pents, or turtles; the Bible said of God, "He stretcheth out the 
north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. 11 
(Job 26:7.) 

The Bible said four thousand years ago of the sun, "His going 
forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of 
it." (Ps. 19:6.) Men once thought this was a mistake ; that the sun 
stands still, but science now teaches that the sun is thousands of years 
in his journey around the center "of his circuit. 

The Bible had lessons, but men did not understand them. Its 
words are in letters, but to read, the man must learn the letters. The 
Bible said long ago that God gave to the air its weight. Now science 
discovers that the air has weight. 

Four thousand years ago revelation said, "Canst thou bind the 
sweet influence of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou 
bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus 
with his sons? 11 (Job 38:31.) But science had to learn that the 
Pleiades's influences bind millions of suns like ours, with their attend- 
ant worlds. 



DEMONIACS 373 

The difficulty is that men learned untrue lessons apparently from 
the book of nature, and by these erroneous lessons interpreted revela- 
tion. The conflict was not between religion and science really, but 
between religion and ignorance. The science of past ages was com- 
parative ignorance at war with the lessons of nature, and doing 
violence to revelation. The same mistakes occurred in the under- 
standing of the one book as the other. Those certain that the Bible 
taught that the earth is flat, were just as sure that nature taught it. 
Both were errors which the men of science of past ages fell into 
ignorantly. The scientists of the present day, who see by the light of 
religious culture, should apologize for the ignorance of their fathers, 
and speak modestly of a conflict in which for ages they were equally 
arrayed against nature and revelation. 

The foregoing article was replied to in the issue of June 30, Dr. Sum- 
merbell interjecting comments into the body of the reply, which was 
unmannerly, justifying the inserted passages. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 9, 1877 : 

Brother Summerbele: Please explain, through the Herald, Mark 
5: 9-14. A. S. Teverbaugh. 

Vermilion County, Illinois. 

Reply. ■ ' And he asked him, What is thy name ? And he an- 
swered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many." AYe read 
of good angels and of bad. They are invisible, but so are some 
of the greatest powers of the world, as electricity, magnetism, etc. 
The spirit. Jesus spake to one, and Legion answered. Luke 8:30 
says the man was called Legion because many devils (demons, or 
half gods) had entered into him. Yerse 10, "And he besought 
him much that he would not send them away out of the country." 
These demons had fear of punishment, but preferred the country 
of unbelievers. Yerse 12, "And all the devils besought him, 
saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them." 
They, as they could no longer hold possession of a man, were satis- 
fied to do as well for themselves as they could, and go to the swine. 
Jesus gave them leave, The swine were probably held by Jews 
contrary to law. They were unclean, and should not have been kept. 
They in the Eastern country breed and spread leprosy. . After the 
return of the French army of Napoleon from Asia, the leprosy 
spread among the swine so that they were compelled to exterminate 
them before they could get the leprosy out of the country. Jesus, 
in mercy, let these destroy themselves, as you would if you knew 
that they were diseased with smallpox. l ' And forthwith Jesus gave 
them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the 
swine." Jesus permitted them to leave the man for the swine. 



374 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Some who have no pity for the man sympathize with the swine; 
for ' ' the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, ( they 
were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea." If evil 
spirits can thus madden swine, how much more men ! We should 
pity men! "And they began to pray him to depart out of their 
coasts. 1 ' But the people, like sinners now, thought more of property 
than of souls, and desired to be let alone. Will there ever be a time 
when demons may torment us, or when our souls may be demons ? 
May we pray fervently now. 

Also, what were the four beasts? (Rev. 6:4.) 

A. S. Teverbaugh. 

Reply. The living creatures ( see Ezekiel 1:5) are called beasts 
(Rev. 6:4), probably because they have not moral volition of their 
own. God's will influences their actions the same as our will influ- 
ences our hands. They cannot sin or merit reward, but act as 
machinery, governed by the will of God. The machinery of heaven 
is not dead, but living. (See Ezek. 1: 5-30.) Spirits are chariots; 
spirits are messengers, as telegraphs. These four living creatures 
are nearest to God and his Son in the midst of the throne, or before 
the throne. These mysterious creatures are wonderful in every 
respect. Their faces, their wheels, their velocity, their words, their 
nearness to God, their whole aspect is wonderful. They may be 
referred to as cherubim, and belong to the most powerful spirits, but 
are not at all to be compared to Michael or Gabriel. 

Brother N. Summerbele : Please answer the following questions: 
1. Is it right for Christian ministers to practice sprinkling or pouring 
for baptism in /the Christian Church? 

Reply. I think not ; but we must exercise patience. The worldly 
church has so long taught error that the people must have time 
to see. 

2. Is it right for some Christian ministers to preach three modes of 
baptism while others preach only one ? 

Reply. I think not. We have but one Savior, and he was baptized 
but once, and of course in but one way. (See Matt. 3: 19.) Yet 
some good men see double, etc. 

3. Should not Christian ministers all preach the same things on points 
of faith and doctrine ? 

Reply. Yes, as nearly as they can ; but we have no hope to decide 
on these nice points, and charity covers some faults. 

4. Believing in immersion as a denomination, and not considering 
any other mode baptism, should any minister of the Christian denomi- 
nation be allowed to sprinkle or pour for baptism? 



BAPTISM AND LIBERTY 375 

Reply. Immersion is a question of learning and judgment upon 
which we have never made any human discipline. We must be 
careful not to encourage a feeling of depriving others of the liberty 
which we demand for ourselves. None of our first ministers, West 
or South, were at first immersed. They enjoyed their liberty. 

5. If they are allowed to sprinkle and pour for baptism, why do the 
Christians hold annual conferences, and appoint examining committees 
to examine men on doctrinal points before they ordain them? Please 
answer through the Heral$, and oblige an inquirer after right. 

J. W. Dennen. 

Pine Grove, Gallia County, Ohio. 

Reply. We do not examine young ministers with a view to re- 
jecting true Christians, but rather with a view to their being truly 
converted and qualified to preach. We also refuse to ordain those 
who persist in attachment to opinions which they cannot read in the 
Bible; but remember, the word "immersion" is not there. It is 
much better to study mercy than judgment. Let us be gentle to 
all men. Convince by argument, but do not force self-assumed 
authority. 

CONFUCIUS. 

Confucius was the Chinese philosopher, the founder of Chinese 
€ivilization. His writings are many, and constitute a Chinese bible. 
He lived about five hundred years before Christ, and was a wonder- 
ful man. He has six hundred descendants who claim natural 
relationship to him, and four hundred millions who revere his 
memory. His descendants are exempt from taxes. His precepts 
have the authority of law. His lessons are on virtue, integrity, 
obedience to parents and the laws. He teaches gravity, honesty, 
generosity, sincerity, earnestness; and, in short, he points to the 
road of "honesty as the best policy," and insures large personal 
gains for all efforts for improvement, but ignores virtue as its own 
reward, ostracises the elevation of woman, and leaves his followers 
far short of the attainments of a convert to Christianity. Yet 
Confucius did good. 

BIBLE BILL OF FARE. 

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine ene- 
mies : thou anointest mv head with oil ; my cup runneth over." ( Ps. 
23: 5.) 

As everything of God is interesting, the following description of 
the Lord's table will not be an exception. May God ever feed us 
with the bread of heaven, and Jesus give us the living water. 

"Spread a cloth of blue," 

With "dishes, and the spoons," (Num. 4: 7.^ 

And bread in the basket, ( Lev. 8 : 31.) 



376 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

And bowls not a few. ( Num. 4: 7.) 

Salt in the cruse, ( Ezra 7 : 22. ) 

And spoons for use. (Num. 4:7.) 

God gives all for comfort, but not for abuse. 

Tell them that are bidden, 

My dinner is ready. ( Matt. 22 : 4.) 

So " eat, and be merry " ; ( Luke 15: 23.) 

For appetite strong ( Isa. 56: 11.) 

Should to Christians belong ; 

For the earth is the Lord's, 

And the fullness thereof. 

GRACE. 

"Give us this day 

Our daily bread." ( Matt. 6: 11.) 

If we ask evil, 

Give us good iu stead. 

Thou "satisfiest the desire 

Of every living thing." ( Ps. 145: 16.) 

To thee our wants we bring. 

THE DINNER. 

"Pour out the broth" ( Judg. 6: 20.) 

Enough for both; 

Feed me with pottage — 

Nothing loth. ( Gen. 25: 30.) 

The bread from heaven 

Thou canst give. 

We eat and drink — 

On thee we live. ( John 6 : 57.) 

Next, broiled fish 

And honey-comb — ( Luke 24:42.) 

A savory dish — 

And all may come. 

A hare, (?) (Lev. 11: 6.) 



And " fatted fowl." ( I. Kings 4: 23.) 
" Butter in a lordly dish," ( Judges 5:25.) 
And a "golden bowl." (Eccl. 12:6.) 
Olives, water, and bakemeats. (Mic. 6: 15; 

Judg. 4: 19; Gen. 40: 17.) 
The roe buck, wild goat, 
And wild ox. ( Deut, 12 : 15; 14: 5.) 
Wheat, lentiles, and millet. ( Ezek. 4:9.) 
" Parched corn, and beans." ( II. Sam. 17 : 28.) 
Aud manna as coriander seed. ( Num. 11: 7.) 
Cheeses and quails. ( I. Sam. 17:18 ; Ps. 105: 40.) 
Patridges and pigeons. ( Jer. 17: 11; Lev. 5: 7.) 
Enough and to spare 
Of things choice and rare. 
With dessert of "almonds," ( Gen. 43: 11.) 
And "melons," (Num. 11:5.) 
And " raisins," ( I. Chron. 12 : 40.) 
And grapes to our fill. ( Deut. 23 : 24. ) 
Pomegranates and figs. ( Num. 13 : 23.) 
"Sum mer fruit, ' ' ( Amos 8:1.) 
" Apples," ( Solomon's Song 2:5.) 
And dates. ( IT. Chron. 31 : 5.) 



BIBLE BILL OF FARE 377 

"Every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, 
and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to 
you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to 
every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the 
earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat. 1 ' 
(Gen. 1: 29, 30.) 

"Blessings" at the table should not be prayers, but simply words 
for grace upon the present provisions. 

"Abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from 
things strangled." (Acts 15 ■ 29.) 

"The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth 
say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, 
let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22 : 17.) 

"So let our lips and lives express 
The holy gospel we profess; 
So let our works and virtues shine 
To prove the doctrine all divine." 

Last words at night : "Lord, keep me while I sleep." 
First words at morn : "Lord, I thank thee that I live." 
Dying words: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 
Man is a prism ; but God is the light. The beauties of grace are 
his attributes of light. 

lu Herald of Gospel Liberty of Juue 30, 1877 : 
SANCTIFICATION. 

Sanctification is a blessed doctrine. There may be errors preached 
with it, but these do not prevent its benefits. Every effort for sanc- 
tification makes the heart better. The word primarily means ' ' set 
apart," and does not always mean to make holy. The first thing 
sanctified was the seventh day. Then Aaron and his sons, and even 
his garments, and the tabernacle, and the altar, and even the furni- 
ture were all sanctified. Moses sanctified all the people. But these 
were not all made perfectly holy, but they were set apart to religion 
and to a holy use. God says, "I will sanctify myself." Jesus says, 
for their sakes "I sanctify myself"; "whom the Father hath sancti- 
fied and sent into the world. " But Jesus was holy before, yet he was 
set apart to the great work of salvation. ^^ T e are first sanctified 
when we are converted— "through the sanctification of the Spirit." 
Then we are sanctified through the truth (John 17). Also, we are 
sanctified by prayer and faith and our own efforts after holiness. 
We should be sanctified, soul, spirit, and body, the soul with all its 
affections, the spirit with all its powers, the body with all its obedience. 
Our thoughts, our words, our desires, our works, our property, our 
time, should all be sanctified to God. Every day we should work for 
Jesus. We should grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. 



378 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

EXCOMMUNICATIONS. 

Hark, bark, the bigot bugle blast! 
The heads of priests are falling fast; 
Swing and McCune are not the last. 

The blows fall heavily. 
Miller, of learning, rich and rare, 
Takes Christ for God, but will not swear, 
The wicked all immortal are, 

To burn eternally. 

McCune, the worst of all the three, 

Yet did not doubt depravity 

Of infants, but if they should be 

Held in depravity. 
Blauvelt in scholarship abounds, 
So on his scent they put the hounds. 
Denying standards were the grounds 

For that decree. 

And Roger Williams, though long dead, 
Could not rest in his lowly bed, 
But Cook cuts off the Baptist's head 

Rhetorically. 
Such is the prudent polity 
To save a sect we all agree; 
To banish truth eternally 

With once loved liberty. 

Rev. Augustus Blauvelt was convicted on Saturday in New York 
by a church tribunal on the charge of heresy. 

As was expected, the General Synod of the Reformed (Dutch) 
Church confirmed the action of the Kingston Classis, and Dr. Blau- 
velt is suspended from the ministry. His offer to demonstrate to the 
Synod that he had not "betrayed the cause of Christ to his enemies," 
as charged by the Kingston Classis, was not accepted, for had it 
been he would have put the dogmas of the Confession of Faith, from 
which he dissents, on trial, and this was not thought desirable. 

MISREPRESENTATION 

The Herald and Presbyter says : 

These remarks Dr. Van Dyke made during the discussion of the report 
on publication. They illustrated the value of our publication work. 
He referred to the book, "The Great Supper," as "the best popular 
exposition of our theology on this subject, and the best answer to that 
miserable lie that is repeated all over this land about the Presbyterian 
belief that there are infants in hell not a span long." In concluding he 
expressed a conviction that if " the board.had published no other book, it 
would be worth all the money it cost, provided the people of this land — 
including the reporters of the Chicago press — would just devote one 



MISREPRESENTATION 379 

evening to the reading of it." We recommend it to our non-Calvinistic 
brethren, especially to such as are disposed to controversy. They will 
save ammunition by studying Calvinistic authors, at least enough to 
understand what Calvinism is. To set up a straw man and riddle him is 

lost labor. 

I would like to know how, if all infants are elect, grown people are 
reprobates, if none can fall from grace ? But speaking of the "man 
of straw" reminds me how, for fifty years, sects have been fighting 
the Christians by first charging us with holding Christ as a mere 
man, and then pelting away at this "man of straw." The Christians 
have never believed or taught that Christ is a mere or "very man." 
Yet it is ever over into this foreign field sects go to fight us, while 
we lean upon the cross and listen to their shouts of victory. Why 
cannot the Herald and Presbyter assist us in saving them all this 
trouble ? 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of July 7, 1877: 

ASSIST THE MINISTERS. 

There are many ways. One is to pray for him ; another, to encourage 
him. Do not criticise him. Speak kindly of him. Lend a hand to 
help him. If he is forgetful, remember for him ; if he is poor, make up 
provisions, donations for him. Start out subscriptions often. Take 
such things as you can spare to him. Elder B. F. S. arose on Monday 
morning, while preaching at Med way, feeling ill. He walked out to 
" do his chores " with difficulty. " Open the gate," was called. Looking, 
he saw a cow driven. He opened the gate, and two brethren drove her 
in, and informed him that the cow ( worth nearly $100 then ) was a 
donation. He smiled, and his face assumed a happy expression. "How 
do you do this morning? " one said. " Better," answered he ; " better! " 
and he published the recipe. Said he, " I speak from experience. If you 
feel unwell, take a cow, and you will feel better." Other things may 



OUR POSITION. 

The position of the Christians is wonderfully true, sublime, and 
Scriptural, and must succeed. Churches may rise or fall, ministers 
may come or go, colleges may be lost or won, papers may be born or 
die, but the great principles of truth and reason which the Christians 
have nailed to the mast must triumph. Preach them. Insist upon 
Christian union, the sufficiency of the Bible, the beauty of the Chris- 
tian name, the one leadership of Christ, the atonement for all, the 
open communion, the end of sins, and triumphs of "everlasting right- 
eousness." Define your position, not only by warning others, but by 
bringing your own views out clearly. 

When young Dr. Fifield, of Conneaut. Ohio, visiting New Orleans, 
was asked, in a company of doctors, of his church, he replied, "My 



380 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

parents belong to the Christian Church." "Ah! What is their 
peculiar faith ? " said one. "I do not know as I can tell you," said 
the modest disciple of ^Esculapius, "but they are great believers in 
God." This was "bringing certain strange things to their ears." 
' Great believers in God ! " several remarked, then looked thoughtful 
and were silent. They had never heard of any church after that 
fashion. Be great believers in God, in the Bible, in truth, in right- 
eousness, and have as little faith as possible in sects, and creeds, and 
things not approved in God's word. 

Dear Brother Summerbele : I desire an explanation, or an answer, 
through the Herald, on the following: In the Herald of June 16 there 
is an extract of a sermon preached by you in Cincinnati, in which you 
say that the whole of the decalogue is to-day binding on Christians ( in 
substance you say so), which embraces, of course, the fourth precept, 
which, to all intents and purposes, makes Saturday the sabbath. You, 
in your Church History, charge the Roman Church with putting Sunday 
for* the sabbath instead of Saturday. You say in a former number of the 
Herald that the Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week sab- 
bath. German, Acts 20:7, and other places in that translation do, I 
think. You know, of course, but perhaps you repudiate that version. 
Now, what I want to know is this: If the decalogue sabbath, it being or 
occuring on Saturday, is binding; if the Calholics, and not Christ or his 
apostles, changed it to the first day, and there is no authority to change 
it to the first day of the week ( that is, divine authority, the only author- 
ity being the Roman Church), I want to know why Dr. Summerbell 
worships an institution of papacy? W. A. Doffeemyer. 

Inglewood, Va., June 19, 1877. 

Reply. Brother Domemyer is an able man, and makes quite a 
strong case against me. And he does right; that is, it is right to 
stand for principles, not for men. I will answer. 

1. The ten commandments were never done away. 

2. They include the fourth commandment. 

3. The sabbath article in my "History" is on pages 151, 152, 
and 153, and shows how both days were originally kept — Saturday 
as a sabbath and Sunday as the new Christian day. The paragraph 
you refer to is on changing the law so as to do away the sabbath of 
any day and substitute Sunday as a holiday, leaving no sabbath. 

4. I have nothing to do with the German version. I neither 
adopt nor repudiate it. 

5. Saturday fell into disuse and Sunday took its place prior to the 
Roman Catholic Church. It was about this way: The Gentile 
churches began early to manifest less regard for the law than the 
Jewish churches. See Acts 15; Gal. 1; Rom. 2:14-29. It was 
considered by the apostles that they were accepted if they kept the 
spirit of the law, even without the form. ( Rom. 2:25-28.) 

6. Sunday was the day dedicated to the sun, and widely honored 
in all the Roman Empire — all the civilized world. God created light 
on that day. (Gen. 1:3.) Christ, the true light, rose on that day. 
The Christians from the time of the resurrection gave some new 



SABBATH 381 

respect to the day. Tertullian, in the second century, applied the 
sabbath view to that day. By Barnabas, a.d. 60, Sunday is called a 
jubilee or "joyful day." Justin, a.d. 140, speaks of it as a time of 
general meeting, and refers to Genesis 1:3. Other testimony proves 
that the Christians kept it from the beginning, but not as a sabbath. 
The Jewish Christians were noted for continuing the seventh-day 
sabbath, but after the fall of Jerusalem Gentile Christians began to 
shake them off, and gave prominence to things which distinguished 
them from the disgraced Jews. And so Sunday was magnified. 

One of the first laws of Constantine, when converted, was to free 
his subjects from labor on "the day of the sun, noted for its worship." 
This released all (Christians with the rest) from labor on Sunday. 
Rome then meant the civilized world, and the law has been continued 
from that day (perhaps 315) to this, making Sunday a rest-day. 
Soon nearly all Christians conformed to it, and the seventh day fell 
into disuse as a sabbath. 

1. First day dates with light from Genesis 1:3, and from the 
resurrection. No people can be called a biblical people who neglect 
Sunday, though in the Bible it is not called a sabbath. 

2. True, it was established by law, by Constantine, but that was 
long prior to the Roman Catholic Church. I keep it because the 
spirit of the fourth commandment is better kept by keeping this day 
with all Christian nations than it could be by keeping Saturday, 
while all around men are at work, thus rendering both days secular. 
Also, it would be wrong to unite with the small sects which keep 
Saturday, as they entirely neglect the first day, and even argue 
against meeting on that day, though they very well know that the 
early Christians did meet on the first day. Sunday is not therefore a 
Roman Catholic day, but a Christian day. Yet, were I traveling, I 
would keep sabbath with those keeping it in whatever place and on 
whatever day the people kept. In passing one way around the world 
we would gain a day, another way we would lose a day. I would 
not, on landing, stick to my seventh day, but adopt the day of the 
people at home. And while I would not split, rend, and divide the 
church about the day, neither would I deny the truth that Saturday 
is the Original sabbath and Sunday the peculiar Christian sabbath. 

Brother Summerbell : I read your article on the sabbath in a late 
number of the Herald. I take no exceptions to your article now, but 
ask a few questions on the sabbath : 

1. Is there any evidence, historical or traditional, that the sabbath 
was kept from Genesis 2:3 to Exodus 20:8-11 and Exodus 31 :1-17 by any 
people ? 

Reply. Not much. Exodus 16 : 22, they gathered manna on the 
sixth for the seventh, because the morrow was the sabbath. 

2. Are we to understand the sabbath law as a seventh part of time or 
as some particular seventh da\ ? 



382 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Reply. It is the seventh day ; but the revolutions of the earth are 
such that, worry as we will, we cannot all keep it at the precise time, 
and I think that we should be more careful to keep the seventh day, 
counting from the last one kept, and to keep it in harmony with 
those who are keeping it, than to split straws on the time. 

3. And if some particular sabbath-day, have we now that particular 
day? This is asked in the light of the facts of history, of apostacies, 
darkness, ignorance, indifference, and deadness to God's will, periods 
that covered many wars and many forgettings. I write this in kindness, 
and for use to others. R. I. W. 

Reply. We can ascertain the day, as it comes one day before the 
first day. First day was observed by the early Christians ; also, it 
was the Roman "Lord's day,'' dedicated to the "Lord the sun." 
Constantine, in the fourth century, relieved his subjects of labor that 
first day, and all Christian nations have done so ever since. The 
Jews have also kept the seventh day. Concerning the exact time, 
we should not seek to divide the church, for in dividing the church 
we divide the time, and in dividing the time we secularize and destroy 
the sacredness of every day. Every individual Christian cannot 
start a new church on his own opinion; but we should work in 
harmony. The day is made for us, and we are not to destroy our- 
selves and the church, and the day also, on the difficult question of 
time, but worship in harmony as each succeeding seventh day rolls 
around. 

Brother Summerbell : If Adam's death was a spiritual death, then 
are not all made spiritually alive? ( I. Cor. 15:22.) 

James G. Gordon. 

Reply. Yes; "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all 
be made alive. But every man in his own order : Christ the first- 
fruits ; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh 
the end." (I. Cor. 15:22-24.) These stubborn texts make the 
Universalist interpretation difficult. If it be true, then Christ is the 
first to be redeemed from spiritual death! And no others can be 
made spiritually alive till Christ comes again ; then they that are his 
will be converted! "Dust to dust" was the death of Adam; and 

since by man canie death, by man came also the resurrection of the 
dead," is the how of the "even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
(I. Cor. 15:21, 22.) 

Brother Summerbekl: Please give your views of the following 
scriptures: " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christ." (John 1:17.) I do not find the words "grace of God" in 
the Old Testament. Was grace in exercise before Christ? If grace was 
given before Christ, whv do we rind such expressions in the New Testa- 
ment as the above? G. T. Ridlon. 

Reply. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
came by J esus Christ. " ( John 1:17.) 



EXPOSITIONS 383 

The truth came by Jesus Christ. The law was given through 
Moses; the favor and the truth came through Jesus Christ. For 
euphony, perhaps, our translators omitted the articles before grace 
and truth, thus making the grace and truth general instead of special. 
God gave the law, system, the first lessons of religion — the foundation 
rocks to build obedience upon — through Moses, the servant of Christ ; 
but the superstructure of the building, the final lessons of truth and 
grace, called the gospel, he gave by his Son. It does not signify that 
the law without gospel came by Moses, nor yet that the gospel with- 
out law came by Christ. Grace is favor, and the Old Testament 
says: 

' ' For the Lord God is a sun and shield : the Lord will give grace 
and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk 
uprightly." (Ps. 84:11.) 

"Grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God." (Ez. 9 : 8.) 

Brother Summerbekl : Please explain, through the Herald, Mal- 
achi 4:1, "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and 
all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the 
day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall 
leave them neither root nor branch." J. H. M. 

Reply. John the Baptist explains it in Matt! 3:11, 12 : "He shall 
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire : whose fan is in his 
hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat 
into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable 
fire." And Jesus explains it in John 15:6, "If a man abide not in 
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered ; and men gather 
them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." And Matt. 
25 : 41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart 
from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and 
his angels." And St. Paul explains it, "Whose end is to be 
burned." And St. Peter explains it in II. Peter 3:10, "The ele- 
ments shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that 
are therein shall be burned up." And St. John explains it in Rev. 
20:15, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, 
was cast into the lake of fire." 

Some do not like the Bible explanations, but they substitute con- 
science for the fire, which they say "is just as bad!" If so, why 
change God's word ? If not, why change it ? 

Brother Stjmmerbeel: Please give us an exposition of your expla- 
nation. If the logos ( word ) was the voice of God, what was it that was 
made flesh in the fourteenth verse? Was it the voice of God that was 
" clothed in a vesture dipped in blood?" By giving us your exegesis of 
John 1:14 and Rev. 19:13 you will much oblige your friend, 

I. Mooney. 

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
and the Word was God." ( John 1:1.) 



384 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we 
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten." (John 1 : 14.) 

"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood : and his name 
is called The Word of God." (Rev. 19 : 13.) 

Reply. Voice. "Heard the voice of the Lord God walking." 
(Gen. 3:8.) John said, "I am the voice of one crying in the 
wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet 
Esaias." (John 1:23.) 

The meaning is not that the voice ( Gen. 3:8) was the logos, but 
that the logos (word) stands in the same relation to God in John 1 : 1 
that voice does in Gen. 3:8, or that John (John 1:23) did to 
Elijah. For as the voice was God, thus Elijah was John. 

"I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great 
and dreadful day of the Lord. " ( Mai. 4:5.) 

"I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him 
not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall 
also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood 
that he spake unto them of John the Baptist." (Matt. 17: 12, 13.) 
And John's voice was John, yet in neither case literally so. So God 
was the logos — the word. Also the word {logos) in John 1 : 1 was 
not only or simply a voice, but God spake by his Son, saying, "Let 
us make man." That Son was spirit, but to come near to us was 
made flesh. See the following history of Christ : 

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, 
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the 
form of a, servant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient 
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath 
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every 
name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of 
God the Father." (Phil. 2 : 5-11.) 

Yet, after all, he is still the Word of God to us. See Rev. 19 : 13. 
When in the scripture one thiiig is called another, it is never to be 
understood literally. 

Examples: Three baskets are three days; seven lean kine are 
seven years ; seven candlesticks are seven churches ; that rock was 
Christ ; the word was God ; seven stars are seven angels ; this is my 
body ; this is Elias. Christ represents God to us in the glory of his 
person, the greatness of his power, the divinity of his spirit, in his 
word and authority, and power to save, and in his throne, and will 
represent him in the judgment. 

" Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the king- 
dom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down all rule 



PERFECTION 385 

and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is 
death. For he hath put all things imder his feet. But when he saith 
all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, 
which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be 
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto 
him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." (I. 
Cor. 15:24-28.) 

Brother Summerbell : Give an explanation of I. John 3 :9 for the 
readers of the Herald in this part of the West. L. Helphrey. 

Beply. The text, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit 
sin ; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot sin, because he is 
born of God," signifies, doth not commit sin habitually, for the word 
of God, by which the new life commenced, remaineth in his heart, 
and prevents habitual sin. This word is the seed, as Peter says, 
1 ' Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by 
the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." (I. Pet. 1 : 23.) 

The word ' ' cannot " signifies not physical but moral disability ; as 
when ' ' Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord : for 
he is an holy God ; he is a jealous God ; he will not forgive your trans- 
gressions nor your sins. If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange 
gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that 
he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay ; but 
we will serve the Lord." ( Josh. 24 : 19-21.) 

He cannot because he purine th himself. (I. John 3:3.) If he had 
no sin he would not have to "purify himself." 

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we 
say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not 
in us." (I. John 1:8-10.) 

Therefore John says: "My little children, these things write I 
unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (I. John 2:1.) 

Perfection is commanded. God calls some men perfect. No saint 
in the Bible ever called himself perfect. Christians should be per- 
fect; they have a perfect God, a perfect Savior, a perfect rule of 
faith, a perfect religion. They should be perfect in faith, in spirit, 
in love, in virtue, in word, in charity, in honesty, in truth, in 
patience, in humility — in every virtue. 

Brother Summerbell: Please explain through the Herald these 
passages of scripture found in St. Luke 16:15-18: 

"And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before 
men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed 
among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the 
prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is 

25 



386 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven 
and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth 
away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery : and whoso- 
ever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth 
adultery." Lydia A. M. Ford. 

jAYSviiiLE, Ohio. 

Reply. "Justify yourselves " signifies that such people make light 
of God's religion, adapting it to their own minds, and so reframmg it 
as to justify their own opinions or inclinations. See this treated upon 
more fully in Mark 7:9: 

' ' This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far 
from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doc- 
trines the commandments of men. For laying aside the command- 
ment of God, ye hold the tradition of men. . . . And he said unto 
them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may 
keep your own tradition. " ( Mark 7 : 6-9. ) 

"God knoweth your hearts" means God knows why you do it! 
God knows that you change his rules through lust or pride. Mat- 
thew writes it, "hardness of your hearts" (read Matt. 19: 3-9), and 
says that Moses suffered men to put away their wives because of 
their hard hearts ; that is, as if he had said, ' ' Divorce was not right ; 
still, where men hated their wives they would so abuse them that 
divorce was preferable." But this was not so in the beginning. In 
Eden (Gen. 2 : 23, 24) they were made "one flesh. Wherefore they 
are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined 
together, let not man put asunder." (Matt. 19:6.) The question, 
Why did Moses permit it ? See Mark 10:4; that is, Why does God 
suffer any deviation from the right? St. Paul, in Gal. 3:19, says, 
"The law . . . was added because of transgressions." 

So God suffered his people in those times to slay in wars, to lay 
waste, spoil, destroy, lead- captives, become masters, own concubines, 
because of what civilians term a second law of nature, or which 
rustics term, "Of two evils choose the least." It was better to send a 
wife away with a dowry than to drive her off, or to kill her, or even 
treat her as an enemy in the house. Jesus refers to Eden for the true 
law. They are made one, married of God ; therefore, not to be put 
asunder, except for incontinence; then the guilty ones are not to 
marry ; if they do they live in a state abominable to God. The law, 
etc., was till John; but now Jesus refers us back to God's own ordi- 
nances in Eden — the higher law of God. Verses 17 and 18 are very 
plain, and need no comment. 

Note. The bogus divorce law of the Mormons, on which Satan's 
lawyers in Chicago obtain fraudulent divorces, is condemned as 
inapplicable out of Utah, and consequently the lawyers are crimi- 
nals, and the men procuring such divorces are legal as well as moral 
criminals. The binding law of marriage is adapted to the nature of 
the union, the restraint of men, the protection of women, the neccssi- 



DIVORCE 387 

ties of society, the respectability of the family, the wants of the 
children, the safety of life, and all acts to the contrary are rebellion 
against God and mortal thrusts against the life of society. The very 
knowledge of probable divorce produces the disposition to it, and 
unsettles the family relations. The family is the first and model 
union, type of all government, and last symbol of heaven. Divorce 
is the contrary and opposite ; yet mischievously disposed persons are 
not to meddle with families thus reformed, with the legal sanctions of 
human law. We may disapprove a law, and labor for its repeal, yet 
when parties interested have its sanctions, it is not ours to interfere 
to disturb their lawful life. We must be law-abiding also. 

If you have lost churches, think of Protestants losing Austria, 
Poland, Bavaria, and France. If you want encouragement, consider, 
if Christ comes, where will he find the church as he left it, except 
with the Christians ? If you want hope, look now to six great news- 
papers in New York advocating union, and every advance movement 
being up toward our line. If you want strength, look to God in 
prayer. To cure despondency, consider : 

Look back to Father Abraham, 

In Canaan not his own; 
See how he lived a life with God, 

And worshiped all alone. 
Or see Elijah flying from 

The wicked Jezebel; 
Or Jesus going from the cross 

Among the dead to dwell. 
God lives, and seven thousand men 

Who have not bowed to Baal, 
Shall triumph (though the tribes be lost), 

And live their King to hail. 
Think how the Bible now is king, 

And creeds live by excuse, 
And bigotry the gauntlet runs, 

The victim of abuse. 
Run, tell the Christians all to come, 

Thrust in the sickle bold; 
The harvest of the world is ripe; 

Work as in days of old. 
The darkest hour, they always say, 
Is just before the break of day. 

Brother Summerbell : Please tell us through the Herald how God 
repents. N. G. S. 

Reply. "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on 
the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." (Gen. 6:6.) It is 
remarkable that in the Old Testament the word "repent" usually 



388 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

refers to God, but in the New Testament it refers to man. We do 
not know God to perfection. We speak of God's perfections, but in 
our low estate we cannot fully comprehend them. We speak of 
infinite wisdom, and wonder how to reconcile it with the existence of 
sin ; but we may not know the philosophy of heaven. There may be 
things which it is right for God to do, which he does because they are 
right, irrespective of consequences, seen or unforseen, and which, for 
aught that we know, he may be loth to do, yet does because they are 
right, and because it would be wrong not to do them. Thus we may 
suppose — 

1. It was right to make man. 

2. Any consequences could not make it right to prevent man's 
existence. 

3. God makes man, with sorrow for the foreseen evils, because it 
is right to create man. 

4. As God feels sorrow in creating man, in view of the foreseen 
evils, so these evils, in fact, may revive this sorrow, so far that men 
may write, "It repented the Lord that he had made man on the 
earth, and it grieved him at his heart/' without meaning that God 
did wrong, or that he would not do it again. 

The word repent is from re and poena — pain. It means pain or 
sorrow in God over man's bad development ; so that God felt pained 
that he had created man. Men explain that ' ' God is unchangeable, 
and not capable of repentance or grief ; but the sins of men were so 
provoking as to determine their Creator to destroy." (Catholic 
Bible.) 

None of the explanations of men have satisfied my mind. I under- 
stand it this way : God cannot repent in the sense of a feeling of 
guilt, but he can feel sorrow. You say, As God is all-wise, why does 
he do that which he must foresee will cause sorrow — that is, why 
create man when he foresaw that he would be compelled by his love 
to pity man, and be under the painful necessity of giving his own Son 
to die for him ? Why ? Answer : Because more good results in the 
end than could be accomplished in any other way, and as for sorrow, 
it would come in either case. We cannot give liberty without grief 
at the libertinism, nor withhold liberty without pain to see men 
deprived of the free use of their faculties. Language is human, and 
as men speak of things in their apparent light — as the sun rises, the 
trees run around, the town approaches, the future advances — so men 
speak of God's apparent ways. With sinners he is angry ; with the 
righteous he is well pleased ; he pities our low estate ; he is moved oy 
prayer ; he felt for us, suffered, so loved the world as to give his Son. 
u In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence 
saved them : in his love and in his pity he redeemed them ; and he 
bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, 
and vexed his Holy Spirit : therefore he was turned to be their enemy, 



FAITH GIVEN 389 

and he fought against them." (Isa. 63: 9, 10.) If we let criticism 
clip the wings of our faith we will fall into the mire. We must allow 
the same latitude in language in the Bible as elsewhere. 

Brother Summerbell: Please answer the following questions, and 
oblige your readers: Rom. 12:3, "According as God hath dealt to every 
man the measure of faith." Does God deal out faith, some more, some 
less? Is faith the gift of God ? W. H. Humphrey. 

Reply. Consider the following scriptures : 

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is 
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; 
but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the 
measure of faith." (Rom. 12:3.) "For to one is given by the Spirit 
word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 
to another faith." (I. Cor. 12: 8, 9.) "But unto every one of us is given 
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, 
When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts 
unto men.", (Eph. 4: 7, 8.) 

In Romans 12 : 3, which you refer to, "grace" is given in the first 
line and "faith" in the last. The apostles prayed, "Lord, increase 
our faith;" "help our unbelief." And Jesus said, "I have prayed 
for thee that thy faith fail not." Even repentance is given (Acts 5 : 
31 ; 11 : 18, and II. Tim. 2 : 25.) " Does God deal out faith ? " Yes; 
he helps our unbelief. Also, ' ' faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard ? Yes verily, 
their sound went into all the earth, and their words Unto the ends of 
the world." (Rom. 10 : 17.) But of many it could not be said as it 
was of the woman in Acts 16 : 14 or the men in Luke 24 : 45. The 
promise is this : To those who seek the Lord he gives grace and 
glory, assisting and blessing them in every good thing; and "hath 
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into 
the kingdom of his dear Son." 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of July 14, 1877 : 

REVIEW — WHO IS RIGHT? 

A young preacher, being taught that his people alone occupy the 
Bible platform, finds three other churches claiming the same, and 
writes to his editor. The editor uses some hard words concerning 
the Christians (most of which we omit), and Brother J. B. Merrit 
asks us to reply. He writes : 

Brother Stjmmerbell: Inclosed you will find part of a letter, etc., 
etc., and the reply. The reply is so full of misrepresentation of the 
Christians that I wish you to review it in the Herald, We are putting 
forth a strong effort to make Le Grand a success. G. B. Fuller is in the 
field as agent, and Prof. Evans will start as soon as the school closes, 
July 3. . r . B. Merrit. 



390 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Elder P. S. Rhodes, sent to Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, to preach 
for the Disciples, reports to his paper, the Recorder and Evangelist, 
that he finds three other churches, all alike professing to be founded 
on the Bible, yet each propagating its own peculiar theory, and each 
opposing "us, 1 ' the Disciples. The four churches are : 

1. The Dunkards, with trine immersion, their peculiar dress, the 
holy kiss in church, and feet- washing. 

2. The old Christians, like the Methodists, except in discipline 
and name. 

3. The Southern Christians, with their "declaration of prin- 
ciples"; and, 

4. "Us," by which he means the Disciples, with their peculiar 
views. 

THE EVIL OF SUCH VARIETY. 

The evil presented in this report is, that professing the same 
Bible creed does not insure union or harmony, but that sects can be 
multiplied on the one Bible creed as well as on the many human 
creeds. And of course the question is, "How can this evil of sects 
be remedied ? " The Roman Church tried creeds, and they failed. 
Now, we have tried the Bible, and it fails; for, lo! we have four 
churches, peculiar and antagonistic, all professing to be founded on 
the Bible, yet all fighting us. What is the origin of the evil ? Where 
is the remedy ? 

The editor, instead of looking the question thus squarely in the 
face, and with charity for all, looking for the evil, commences boast- 
ing of "Us" and "We," and opposition to the others, illustrating 
just what Elder Rhodes had written. 

The editor says : 

Forty years ago the old Christians were a numerous people, but 
wherever they have come in contact with us, they have been mostly 
absorbed by us. This would argue that they are possessed of a weakness 
that renders them unable to stand before our rapid march. The very 
considerable consolidation, or rather absorption, that we have made of 
these people, especially of the first mentioned, is no mean argument for 
our plea for a union on God's Word alone. Certainly, the fact shows 
our superiority as an aggressive people. 

Our reply. The argument is this: The old Christians had a 
weakness of charity, hospitality, brotherly kindness, and too much 
faith in our honesty, which caused them to let us into their houses 
and hearts, when we, " on a plea of union," were able to divide their 
congregations, scatter their churches, and seize their property, they 
being unable to stand before our rapid march. We absorbed them, 
which is proof of our superiority as an aggressive people. 

I will not how speak of the Christians, but of the Dunkards, whom 
you count as one of the people to be absorbed, and propose that it 
had been much more in harmony with the spirit of Jesus had you 



SUCCESS OF "disciples" 391 

replied : Treat them kindly. He that is not against us is on our side. 
No man can take the Word of God for his guide and speak lightly 
of it. The four peoples should consider that the things they agree in 
are the absolutely essential things. What we differ in are the opin- 
ions of men ; namely, trine immersion, the kiss, the dress, etc. You 
could have said, Though we may not practice the kiss, we cannot 
condemn it, as we take the Word, and it is there in many a "thus 
saith the Lord " in precept, example, and reproof. 

Jesus said in reproach, "Thou gavest me no kiss," and told us how 
the loving father of the prodigal "fell on his neck and kissed him." 
Kissing Jesus is often spoken of ; as, " Hath not ceased to kiss my 
feet." So, also, they "fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him." And it 
is written, "Salute one another with an holy kiss," in Rom. 16 : 16 ; 
"Greet ye one another with an holy kiss," in I. Cor. 16 : 20, and II. 
Cor. 13 : 12 ; "Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss," in I. Thess. 
5: 26; "Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity," in I. Peter 
5 : 14. How easy it would have been to have said, We must be 
consistent. These people have a "thus saith the Lord," which we 
have not for many of our customs; as, "Immerse in order to 
remission," "Breaking bread every first day," "Excluding all the 
unimmersed, ,, "Calling the first day the Lord's day." While we 
neglect the promise to prayer made by Peter upon the day of Pente- 
cost, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," 
and add to the one on baptism in the thirty-eighth verse, we deny 
that the Holy Ghost comes before baptism, as it did (Acts 10: 44), 
and reject St. Paul's answer to the question of the sinner, "What 
must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16: 31), and smuggle in part of 
Peter's answer to the Jews (Acts 2: 38) in its place. We pick out 
what we like, or what our fathers gave us, and reject the rest. If 
some Disciple brother gave us a kiss, we would not reject him; then 
why reject them ? If some Disciple church dressed plain, we would 
not reject them ; then why reject the Dunkards ? If some Disciple 
preacher baptized a rich convert by tribe immersion, we would not 
reject him; then why reject the Dunkard brethren ? Here is where 
the Christian or Bible platform is superior. It has charity and 
toleration, and fellowships all here that we expect to fellowship in 
heaven. 

The editor says : 

They ( the old Christians ) are possessed of a weakness that renders 
them unable to stand before our rapid march. 

Reply. Do not apologize for your rapid march, or go slow on 
account of our weakness. Consider, if you will, our weakness, but 
march on as rapidly as you can, since you have the only gospel of 
pardon, and fourteen hundred perishing millions of people sinking 
to endless ruin before you, whom in the past eighteen hundred years 



392 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

you have not overtaken with your remedy — yes, that long, for Jesus 
would not wait eighteen hundred years for Mr. C. to start his church ; 
therefore the only true church dates back to Matt. 16: 19, three 
hundred years before the Catholics and seventeen hundred years 
before the Methodists. How came the Catholics to get so far ahead 
of you — five hundred to your one ? Had the true church a weak- 
ness that rendered it unable to stand before the rapid march of the 
Catholics ? Consider the need of haste. Before you are these three 
hundred millions of Catholics, forty millions of Lutherans, twenty 
millions of Episcopalians, and thirty -four millions of Presbyterians, 
besides Quakers, Methodists, and others, over fifty millions of Chris- 
tians all ahead of you, — eight hundred to one, — and all perishing 
for want of your gospel of immersion for remission. Then, also, the 
Mohammedans, two hundred millions, and pagans, six hundred 
millions, altogether nearly fourteen hundred millions, or more than 
fourteen hundred to your one, that you have not reached after 
having the gospel nearly two thousand years. Do not apologize for 
being rapid. If you are the only true church, you have been very 
patient to let Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists get so far 
ahead of you. 
The editor says : 

The fact shows our superiority as an aggressive people. 

Here you mean not aggression against sin, but what Jesus named 
in Matt. 23: 15. If you are superior, we are glad to know it; if 
aggressive against Christians, we are glad that you confess it, for one 
step more brings you to the promise in I. John 1:9. Yes, we had 
a weakness of charity I will confess with you. The "old Chris- 
tians, 1 ' full of Christian love, opened their houses to men who came 
to them "on the plea of union," who professed that we were all 
one, but who endeavored to create a party; then by a bad spirit, 
drive off the peaceful members, divide the congregation ; then 
denounce the Christians as not one with them at all, and having 
scattered the sheep, seize the property, and boast that "on the plea 
of union, they had absorbed the 'old Christians.' " Let us not boast 
of our aggressive spirit; it is" the spirit of evil— the spirit of the 
Nimrods, Tamerlanes, Alexanders, and Neros. The wolf is an 
aggressor, and absorbs the lamb ; the serpent, by its charming plea 
of union, absorbs the dove. A proper self-respect has taught the 
Christians to remember the Savior's words in John 10 : 10. 

The editor says : 

The old Christians make Christian character, not Bible requirements, 
their avowed test of fellowship. 

Reply. Christian character is Christlike character, and requires 
us to do as Christ did. He was the Son of God before baptism, and 



DISCIPLES V. CHRISTIANS 393 

prayed for the forgiveness of sinners, and pardoned the unbaptized, 
and so fulfilled the Bible requirements. ( See Matt. 9 : 2 and 23 : 34; 
Luke 7: 47.) But the implication is that you fill the Bible require- 
ments. Well, what does the Bible require? Read and see the 
gospel order ! 

" Repent ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1 : 15.) 

' ' Ye must be born again. " ( John 3:7.) 

"Born again "—"not ... of the will of man." (John 1: 13.) 

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be 
blotted out." (Acts 3 : 19.) 

"Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall 
not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18 : 3.) 

"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." (Matt. 3 : 8.) 

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
children of God." (Rom. 8: 16.) 

Now do you, as well as the Christians, require these things, or are 
St. Paul's words fulfilled that "wnen for the time ye ought to be 
teachers, ye have need that. one teach you again which be the first 
principles of the oracles of God "— repentance from dead works and 
of faith toward God ? "Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying 
on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judg- 
ment." (Heb. 5: 12; 6:2.) 

The editor proceeds as follows : 

If there were half a dozen claimants to a large estate left by will, the 
court would order that said claimants should prove their identity. The 
one succeeding in this task would be adjudged the estate. So it is in 
the case in hand — we are anxious for the test of identity as described in 
the will of our heavenly Father." 

Reply. Now we come to the identity. "To the law and to the 
testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because 
there is no light in them." "If any man speak, let him speak as the 
oracles of God." " By this shall all men know that ye are my disci- 
ples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13: 35.) "Examine 
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your own selves. Know 
ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye 
be reprobates ? " (II. Cor. 13: 5.) "Every one that loveth is born 
of God, and knoweth God." (I. John 4: 7.) 

These are the documents for our identity, and "the Spirit itself 
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 
and if children, then heirs : heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; 
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified 
together." (Rom. 8: 16, 17.) I hope that you have all these tests 
of identity. Remember the last one is, If we have suffered with 
him, not if we have been aggressive, and done as those of Matt. 
24:49. 

The editor proceeds to say : 



394 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The fact shows our superiority. 

Beply. Does success show Catholic superiority ? Be modest ; let us 
confess that ' ' immersion-remission " is a gospel adapted to but a small 
portion of the world. It cannot reach the frozen zone, or sandy desert, 
or inner prison, or parched battle-field, or those ignorant of the Disci- 
ples' system, or who are not certain that eis in Matt. 3: 11 means 
"unto," but in Rom. 6: 4 it means "into," yet in Acts 2: 38 it 
means "in order to," or who cannot trust your opinion; but as it is 
the only hope you have, hold on to it ! Love your little theory, cling 
to your' little creed, exalt your exclusive fellowship, cherish your 
shrunken charity, love your limited salvation. I should, were it all 
that I had. If honest, you may be saved by it, as it is the best you 
know. God is good, and "there be first a willing mind, it is accepted 
according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." 
(II. Cor. 8 : 12.) But do not expose it to criticism by contrasting it 
with that better gospel which says, " Whosoever will, let him take 
the water of life freely." 

The editor well says : 

Let it be our mission to unfalteringly plead for the absolute authority 
of God's word. Where the Scriptures speak, we speak; where they are 
silent, we are silent. 

Beply. Well said ! These are mine precisely. So we will preach 
Peter's words at Pentecost (Acts 2: 21), and to Cornelius (Acts 10 : 
43), and St. Paul's (Acts 13: 39 and 16: 31), and be silent as the 
Scriptures are about "gospel order being faith, repentance, and 
baptism," "born meaning baptism," "immersion in order to remis- 
sion," "breaking bread every Lord's day," because the Scriptures 
never say such things. 

You say again : 

Agreeing to disagree in a toleration of error is not Christian unity. 

Reply. So you repudiate toleration for what seems to you to be 
error, and of course what seems to you to be truth needs no toler- 
ation from you. So you declare yourself void of toleration or 
charity! Now read your character in I. Cor. 13. Let me pray you 
to take that back. It is too much like Rome. "Who art thou that 
judgest?" (Rom. 14: 4.) Take it back and cultivate forbearance. 
Speaking of error and "thus saith the Lord," let me tell you you 
have not one precept or doctrine that you can word in Scripture lan- 
guage or give a "thus saith the Lord" for which we do not preach! 
.Not one! All that is peculiar to you is your own "opinion." Let 
opinion go and unite with me in preaching the Word. 

"Come, my Christian friends and brethren, 
Bound for Canaan's happy iand, 
Come, unite and walk together, — 
Christ, our leader, gives command." 



CHARITY AND TOLERATION 395 

We will not bind a brother's conscience! Say to your aggressive 
spirit, "Get thee behind me," and cultivate humility and charity, 
and live in love. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of July 21, 1877: 

ORTHODOX — EVANGELICAL. 

While constantly hearing popular denominations called orthodox 
and evangelical, as distinguishing features, few realize that the 
Christians, who say but little about these terms, are perhaps the only 
truly orthodox and evangelical church, in many respects, in the 
world. We do not say this boastingly, or invidiously, or with pleas- 
ure, but sadly ; for we would that all were orthodox and evangelical, 
and could wish that the Christians were heretical and wrong, and 
their opinions soon to become obsolete, if that would make all the 
others orthodox and evangelical. Nor would we allude to the subject 
at all were it not that the constant claim, honestly put forth we doubt 
not, of our dear brethren of other churches that they are orthodox, is 
calculated to deceive the people and cultivate in the uninformed the 
suspicion that perhaps the Christians are not orthodox. Such, how- 
ever, is not the case. The reason why we do not use the words 
orthodox and evangelical as much as others is, first, that they are 
not, strictly speaking, Scripture words ; and, second, because the call- 
ing of one's self orthodox, unless in self-defense, savors of such 
egotism and spiritual pride, if not of pharisaical impudence, as is well 
calculated to prove the contrary. It is only as a matter of justice, or 
in self-defense, which is the character of this paragraph, that it can 
be in good taste to speak of one's self as orthodox, as distinguished 
from the great mass of believers, who all, as we may charitably 
hope, suppose themselves orthodox, and indeed in some things are so. 

Evangelical is from the Greek word signifying gospel, and signifies 
simply "according to the gospel." Therefore, the Christians, who 
hold the normal and apostolic form of doctrine ( ' ' Hold fast the form 
of sound words.' 1 ) just as it was given from heaven by the Son of 
God, and who, with the exactness of verbal accuracy, word every 
doctrine in Bible language, and hold and practice every principle in 
the exact gospel form, are, beyond any reasonable question, strictly, 
truly, and plainly orthodox and evangelical. 

The word ; l heterodox " is not the opposite of the word ' ' orthodox, " as 
some suppose, but means simply "other" opinions than those held by 
the speaker, whatever his may be. Of course the suffix dox is the 
same (opinion) as in the word "orthodox " but the prefix heter simply 
signifies "other," "another," etc. So that every varying sect is 
heterodox to every other sect, whether right or wrong. Yet, because 
dissenters from the state religions or popular creeds have been 
christened heterodox, it has come to signify error as a secondary 



396 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

meaning, Therefore, there is force and truth as well as wit in the 
saying, l ' Orthodoxy is my doxy and heterodoxy is your doxy. " For 
each honest Christian supposes his own faith right, and speaks of 
what he does not hold as "other" opinions. 

The words are, however, applied very differently in various parts 
of the world. In New England the old Congregational Church, that 
once drowned witches, hung Quakers, exiled Episcopalians, and ban- 
ished Baptists, is the "orthodox" church, so called. At Princeton 
orthodoxy signifies Presby terianism ; in London, Protestantism; in 
Paris, Catholicism; in Italy, papal infallibility; in Moscow, the 
Greek Church; in Constantinople, the Mohammedan; that is, the 
uppermost or dominant sect calls itself orthodox. This is wrong. 
Only are any orthodox as they are biblical. The Christians are 
orthodox only because they are biblical and conform their church 
polity, their doctrine, and obedience to the gospel of the Son of 
God. That makes their church and their faith and practice evan- 
gelical. Denominations who add to God, and add to his names and 
religion, are liable to error just as far as they deviate from the Word, 
and unevangelical just as far as they deviate from the written gospel. 
We do not desire to condemn others, but must insist that, whatever 
may be their position, the Christians are, beyond question, certainly 
orthodox and evangelical in faith. In illustration of this, we give 
below a few items of the Christian faith and principles. • If any think 
that any other faith, precept, or practice is more orthodox or evan- 
gelical, let them place their own in an opposite column, and then 
examine which accords the nearest with the Bible statement — the 
plain "thus saith the Lord." The Christians hold that : 

1. There is one God. That is orthodox. 

2. One Lord Jesus Christ. That is orthodox. 

3. Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. That is orthodox. 

4. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God. That is orthodox. 

5. We must repent, believe, and be converted. That is orthodox. 

6. Our creed is the Bible. That is orthodox. 

7. We trust in Christ. That is orthodox. 

8. We trust in Christ and his atonement. This is orthodox. 

9. We fellowship all Christians. That is evangelical. 

10. We preach love and union. That is evangelical. 

11. We contend for all the Word of God, and nothing more. 
That is orthodox as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be 
— world without end. 

This is written not to condemn others, but because those who have 
changed Christ's religion sometimes assert that they are, and that the 
Christians are not, orthodox. Of course, they do it ignorantly, and 
therefore I desire to make the undoubted orthodoxy of the Christians 
plain, that it may be understood. Yet we are glad to say that each 
sect is biblical, therefore orthodox in some leading feature, as the 



THE FOUR LIVING CREATURES 397 

Baptist in baptism, the Presbyterian on perseverance, the Methodist 
on grace, etc. And while the standards of all denominations are 
pervaded with a dominating Christian spirit, the people in the main, 
careless of the standards, accept the Bible just as do the Christians, 
and are, in spite of the creed dogmas, sufficiently orthodox in faith 
and evangelical in practice to warrant reasonable hope of the salva- 
tion of all who sincerely practice the Christian precepts. 

In your issue of June 9, on the question, " What are the four beasts?" 
(Rev. 4:8 ), I do not see how you make it out that they have no moral 
volition of their own. See Rev. 5:9, where they, with the twenty-four 
elders, sang a new song, saying to the "Lamb," "Thou art worthy to 
take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and 
people, and nation." See also tenth verse. Did they not once live on 
the earth? If not, how could the "blood" redeem them, as above 
stated? If they did, were they all translated, as Enoch and Elijah, such 
worthies as Melchisedek and Moses? Please examine this subject fur- 
ther, and oblige, S. Cummings. 

Reply. You prefer to call these four beasts men — that is, men who 
had lived upon the earth, because they sang the song of redemption. 
Others take the same view. Charles Walmesley (Catholic) calls 
them Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel — Isaiah the lion, Jere- 
miah the calf or ox, Ezekiel the man, and Daniel the eagle. Some 
Protestants make them represent the four evangelists — the lion, 
Matthew; the ox, Mark; the man, Luke; the eagle, John. I still 
think that they are things and not persons. The words C"«, ' ' living 
ones," and C«ov, "living one," signify merely living existence. 

Description as Presented in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4. The 
description also convinces me that they are things. The body is a 
compound, resembling a "lamp" or fire-engine, with lightning in 
every part. Beneath this are feet, like a calf's foot, straight down, 
but the wonderful power is in the wheels, which seem to be able to 
run, without turning, in every direction, fronting each way and at 
right angles, and wheels within wheels, the whole throughout alive 
with fire or intense electricity. Sometimes the wheels are on earth 
and sometimes in heaven above, for the zo a seem to have power to go 
without leaving and to come without remaining, presenting an idea of 
the most complicated machinery, with the qualities of electricity. 
The wheels are alive; the faces resemble the cardinal types of the 
creatures of God ; as for intelligence and character, man ; for courage, 
the lion ; for the rising thought, the eagle ; and for strength, the ox. 
Their position convinces me that they are not men. They are in the 
"midst of the throne," and round the throne, and under the throne, 
the throne resting upon them, and their wings extending upward, 
forming a canopy over the throne, the throne seeming to rest upon 
them, to be protected and supported by them and covered by them. 
This is too important and familiar for men. 



398 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Other Writers. Commentators say: "The wheels were alive; 
they were also animals. Here is the chariot of Jehovah. Four 
compound animals form the body of the chariot. Over the bodies 
was the throne, and over the throne the wings met as a canopy. 

Barnes says that "the Greek word zoon means properly a 'living 
thing.' " Ezekiel saw four living creatures, "living, animated.' 1 My 
opinion is that many things which we would call machines here are 
alive in heaven ; that, so to speak, chariots run of themselves. Trum- 
pets give sound of themselves, yet all governed by the will of God 
and his Son, angels, or saints — everything controlled by the will of 
him who maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a" flame of fire. 
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels. 
The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. The 
thunders utter their voice, deep answers to deep, every creature 
praises God. These ' ' living things " rest not. Day and night they 
cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God omnipotent." Heaven is the 
saints' rest, but these have no rest because they need none. Consider, 
if intelligent creatures, with conscience and moral responsibility (not 
exclusively controlled by God's will), what wonderful beasts, crea- 
tures, angels, or men they are ! Four men supporting God's throne ! 
Four men in God's throne ! Four men surrounding and nearest to 
God's throne! Four men witli many living wheels, and each six 
wings spread over the throne of God ! 

Dear Brother Summerbell : I am sick at heart. I moved to this 
place full of love to God and man, and have labored faithfully, but I 

have no sympathy from my fellow-ministers. Last night Rev. 

preached a sermon directly against me. He said ( so I am told ) that all 
who do not hold that Christ is the supreme and eternal God are infidels. 
He says that the Son is the Father and the Father is the Son — equal in 
eternity ; or, in other words, that there is no divine or eternal Son. I 
am young in the ministry, and I confess that these things discourage 
me. * 

Reply. Do not be discouraged. There is a better day coming. 
There are now many trinitarian ministers who have better views. 
These Jehus want blood. Only great piles of heads please them. I 
will write you a hasty sermon on the text, I. John 2 : 22, or on 

ANTICHRIST. 

1. Who is antichrist? " He is antichrist that denieth the Father 
and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the 
Father : but he that acknowledged the Son hath the Father also." 

2. Christ's professed friends oppose, persecute, and reject him. 
The prophet said : 

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord 
revealed ? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a 
root out of a dry ground : he hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we 
shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is 
despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with 



ANTICHRIST 399 

grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we 
esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sor- 
rows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 
( Isa. 53:1-4.) And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in 
thine hands ? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded 
in the house of my friends. (Zee. 13:6.) 

So it is written of the priests of old : 

And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when 
they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed 
in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked 
him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews ! And they spit upon him, and took 
the reed, and smote hirn on the head. And after that they had mocked 
him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, 
and led him away to crucify him. (Matt. 27:28-31.) And when they 
had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the 
tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. ( Acts 13:29.) 

3. These things, as saith the apostle Paul ( I. Cor. 10 : 6-11 ), were 
examples and ensamples — that is, types — to show us the madness of 
bigots, and they being "men of like passions with us," of course un- 
regenerate priests now will develop the same spirit. And that they 
do, the following extracts from theological works of the highest 
authority abundantly prove. They say : 

If Jesus Christ be God, the ascriptions of the perfections of God to him 
are proper ; if he be not, the apostles are chargeable with weakness, and 
either would destroy their claim to inspiration. ( Art. Jesus, Ency. Bel. 
Kno., p. 687.) 

If Jesus be not the Supreme God, he was a setter-up of idolatry, 
encouraging men to worship himself; and Mahomet, who zealously 
opposed such worship, must be a valuable reformer ! If Christ be not 
God, the Jews did well to crucify him as a noted blasphemer that made 
himself equal with God, and they did well to persecute his apostles who 
represented him as the object of worship. ( Wood's Dictionary of the 
Bible, 2 vols. (Meth.), vol. 1, p. 284, Art. Christ.) 

There must, therefore, have been the possibility of yielding, or his 
temptatiou would have been essentially unlike ours. ( Smith's Diction- 
ary of the Bible, Art. Jesus Christ, p. 401.) 

Kinkade represents Christ as capable of repentance. Then he must be 
capable of sinning. Then he may sin against God himself and be 
damned forever. ( Rev. Hiram Mattison on the Trinity, p. 687, published 
by the M. E. Book Concern.) 

Now, my dear brother, they never said anything harder of you 
than these things; and Jesus himself said. " If they have called the 
master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them 
of his household?" (Matt. 10:25.) Be patient, then, and preach 
faithfully until a better day dawns. It is painful to behold the bold- 
ness of bigots climbing into Jesus' judgment-seat, and Jesus standing 
before them to be judged — his eyes covered, his hands tied, his 
wounds bleeding afresh, and he condemned as an imposter if he dares 
to say, Cl l am the Son of God," or, "My Father is greater than I." 
"The Jews did well to crucify him!" Think of such impudent 
imposters palming themselves off on a superstitious church as Chris- 



400 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

tians, "and Mahomet is to be preferred!' 1 Men who can write such 
words concerning the Son of God would not be slow to burn his min- 
isters if they had the opportunity. But we thank the great, good 
Father that this ugly demon of bigotry has had his day. The 
Pharisee with his creed, "I am holier than thou,' 1 is being invited 
down and out, and a Savior's love is taking his place. 

Brother Summeebell: Please explain Genesis 1:16, Joshua 10:12, 
and Amos 8:9, and oblige A Friend. 

These texts read as follows : 

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and 
the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set 
them in the rirmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. ( Gen. 
1:16,17.) Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord 
delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in 
the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; and thou, Moon, 
in the valley of Aijalon. And the sun stood still. ( Josh. 10:12, 13.) And 
it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the 
sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. 
(Amos 8:9.) 

Reply. It is not supposed by the learned that the words, "God 
made two great lights" (Gen. 1 : 16), mean that God created them 
out of nothing on that day, but God that day set them, or caused 
them to shine through the firmament. All people call the sunshine 
the sun. We never see the sun, but only its brightness,* 

Joshua 10 : 12. The sun would stand still to Joshua if God caused 
its splendor to continue in the heavens, or caused it to remain in sight 
by holding the diurnal motion of the earth, without disturbing the 
motion (except the moon) of other bodies. 

Amos 8 : 9 is poetic, and means the same as we do when we sing : 

" Our morning sun may set at noon ; " 

Though Archbishop Usher makes it foretell an eclipse which took 
place eleven years after Amos's death. The Bible, like all other 
books, is to be interpreted so as to harmonize with the well-established 
use of words, and not by any peculiar or scientific meaning. We say 
that the sun comes into the house and is gone; that it is over the 
steeple, behind the castle. Our most learned (and even the alma- 
nacs) say that it rises and sets. Keep this usage in mind, and 
remember that the apparent motion of things is spoken of as real by 
the most learned, and you will find no difficulty. 

-Apparent, among mathematicians and astronomers, denotes things as they 
appear to the eve. in distinction from what they really are. Thus we speak .of 
apparent motion, magnitude, distance, height, etc. In ignorance of this difference 
the early astronomers ran into continual errors. As when we sail m a boat tne 
trees seem to pass hy us, so stars seem to us to move because our position is 
changed. An object is not always where we seem to see it. Thus the bottom ot a 
stream, as seen from the shore, will appear much higher than it really is, ana tne 
Lord could cause the sun (splendor of the sun) to be seen long after the luminary 
had sunk down in the west, or the sun (light) to remain in the valley alter tne 
source of the light had disappeared. 



women's preaching 401 

Gen. 1 : 16 signifies that God placed the sun (sunlight) in the sky 
at that period. Josh. 10:12 means that God caused this sunlight, 
and the moon consequently, to remain longer than usual, or perhaps 
held the earth from its motion toward the sun. Amos 8 : 9 means 
that the sun set or disappeared at noon. God could hasten its setting. 
But we need not suppose anything more meant than a poetic expres- 
sion of troubles, perplexities, hard times, and dark prospects, after 
times of peace, light, and joy. The great thing is to remember God's 
mercies, and be prepared, that if "our evening sun should set at 
noon" we may be prepared for the coming day. 

Brother Summerbell: Please give us, through the Herald, your 
views on woman's preaching, and take into consideration I. Tim. 2:11, 
12: "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer 
not a woman to teach." J. R. Homer, Illinois. 

Reply. Where the literal rendering of a text seems difficult, it 
requires closer examination. "Cut off thy right hand," "pluck out 
thine eye," " take no thought for the morrow, "" hate . . . father and 
mother," have compelled men to do this. The laws of the state in 
that day ( not the laws of God ) interfered with ' ' woman's rights ; " 
also in standing around (for they often met as we do at auctions, 
there being no meeting-houses) women sometimes disturbed the 
meeting probably. These considerations, with the fact that our 
translators were opposed to women's preaching (they being formerly 
Catholic priests), will account for a rendering unfavorable to women. 
The term translated ''woman" here, however, is wives, and the 
persons protected are husbands. Still, some eight or ten women 
preachers are named in the Bible. Woman has the same right to 
speak that a man has. 

1. The first proof of this is her tongue. It is formed for speaking, 
as any physiologist will decide. 

2. God calls some women, as Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Anna, 
and the four daughters of Philip, prophetesses, which signifies the 
highest style of preachers. God has joined the prophetic office and 
woman together. Let no man put them asunder. 

3. Women being thus inspired by the Lord and told to speak, 
their authority is equal to St. Paul's, and they, when inspired, have 
the same right to forbid him that he has to forbid them. Therefore 
he does not forbid them, but is badly translated and sadly misrepre- 
sented. 

4. St. Paul (I. Cor. 11:5) gives rules for women to observe when 
prophesying. He says, "But every woman that prayeth or prophe- 
sieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head." Directions 
how to do a thing include permission to do it. Therefore, preaching- 
women may take I. Cor. 1 1 : 5 as their license to prophesy or preach 
(for prophesying includes preaching): a license, signed Paul, called 
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, Philippi, April, a.d. 50. 

2f> 



402 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

5. The words attributed to Paul are "silence," "not to teach," 
etc., which no church obeys. All permit them to sing, most to pray, 
all to lecture, some to exhort, all to teach in Sunday school. What 
nobody obeys nobody should quote as authority for others. 

6. The widows mentioned by St. Paul are noAv, by the most 
learned men, understood to have been preachers. Clarke, McNight, 
and nearly all learned men now admit that they had deaconesses 
(ministers) in the first church for nearly a thousand years. This is 
all that I have time to write at present. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 4, 1877 : 

PETER POMPOUS, THE POLITICIAN. 

The Pompous family is rapidly spreading, some of its members 
being already found in almost every county-seat in the country. All 
do not retain the old family name, but, when reading this, it may be 
utilized by the reader by his simply substituting his present name, 
that in case of an early or premature death, without a prepared 
biography, his friends may hand this friendly notice to the editor to 
publish with his obituary. It begins as follows : 

PETER POMPOUS, THE POLITICIAN. 

One of the most useful, entertaining, and instructing biographies 
which the world has ever known — namely, the life of a writer, a 
speaker, a commander, a philosopher, a poet — has just missed being 
issued from the press on account of not being written. I mean the 
life of Peter Pompous, the politician. He was born of a very respect- 
able family at a very early period of his life. This is worthy of 
record as the most important event of his very eventful life. Though 
born without any knowledge of the world whatever, he secured 
immediate friends, and was provided for like a prince. Food and 
clothing were furnished free, and this great man ma'de his debut into 
society like a king on his throne, surrounded by attendants. His 
failure in after life to keep up the dignity of a sovereign was owing 
to causes over which he had no control, and for which he is therefore 
not to be held accountable. 

Many have started life as young, but few have lived more philo- 
sophically than Peter Pompous, the politician. With the exception 
of his mother, whom he fondly loved the first two years of his life, 
he has never suffered himself to view his fellow-beings with any 
appreciative partiality. Of her he often spoke with tears of deep 
emotion, relating that during her care for him his every want was 
supplied without his solicitude or care. Often has he been heard to- 
exclaim with deep emotion those beautiful lines : 

" What is home without a mother !" 



THE BOMBAST 403 

Peter Pompous, the politician, was tall and, as he truly imagined, 
beautiful. When a youth, his great-uncle on his mother's side 
determined to assist him, and bought him a full suit of clothes, which 
presented his magnificent form in improved beauty. His coat was 
of fine blue cloth, with velvet collar and front, and shining brass 
buttons; his pants were of light drab cassimere, of irreproachable 
fashion ; his vest was of sky-blue cashmere ; his hat a beaver, high 
crowned and tall; his shoes were patent leather pumps, covering 
but part of his white silk hose. He carried a small cane and a large 
cigar; wore lavender gloves, and was a dandy, and got married. 
This was the second grand event of his eventful life. Some men 
marry for money. Not so with Peter Pompous ; he married for love, 
of course — love of himself. After the death of his mother, he longed 
for some one to assist him, and he got a wife ; for though he was not 
afraid of work, — but contemplated it with the complacency of a grand 
Turk, — he could not stoop to do it himself, but commanded his wife, 
and she made his fires, and fanned his face, blacked his boots, brushed 
his hat, pants, and coat. By washing for others, she paid his rent. 
He did not think it prudent to give her money, because it is such a 
temptation; yet she sprang at his word, for he was her lord, and 
she respected him. He was a man! Yes, a man! and voted, and 
talked politics, and drank and smoked, and talked about who should 
be the next President. His poor wife often wondered, when she 
heard his great words, why he was not President. But he never 
was ! He talked politics at saloons, on the street, and at the polls, 
and wrote speeches, "and drank toasts, and called his opponents fools; 
but somehow or another the world never knew the deep, hidden 
talents of Peter Pompous. 

But his wife, like his mother, became worn out in time, for women 
cannot last forever; and as she sat sewing, for she made her own 
shroud when almost gone with consumption, she mumbled in sorrow : 
tl O Peter, when these hands cease working, where will you find 
food ! The hope of an office we have cherished, but I fear it will not 
come. While you lectured in bar-rooms, I worked like a wife ; but 
I am done." Peter entered to hear the last line. They were the last 
words of her life — the last she ever spake, and they so touched his 
heart that before leaving for the billiard-room he told them to send 
for the overseer of the poor, to have her respectably buried. While 
playing at cards the night after her interment, the tears came into his 
eyes. l ' Excuse this weakness, " he said ; ' ' but she was a good wife — 
I never found her idle. She had but one fault ; that was, she wore 
out. What I am now to do, I know not. She can support my home no 
longer. " And Peter Pompous was from that day a broken down man. 

The Roman Catholic priest referred to in.au article, ent tied, " Herald 
to Its Readers." was an Italian, of a great church in Cinci niati, and the 



404 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Christian preacher was Suminerbell himself. The Italian priest came 
often to see him and converse on religion. On one occasion the priest 
manifested special interest in SummerbelPs son ( who habitually listened 
while playing about ), and sought the child for a priest, offering to give 
him the best education afforded by the schools of this country and 
Europe. Joseph expected his father to be angry at the offer, which was 
in its nature impudent, though made in the most winning and alluring 
manner; but Suminerbell merely smiled and declined. The priest was 
a learned man, of the most courtly and fascinating manners. It was 
foolish to think that Summerbell, notwithstanding his dire poverty, 
was for sale. 
Editorials continued : — 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 4, 1877: 

FAITH. 

I do not here desire to define faith, but to plead for it. Faith is a 
Christian virtue, a Christian excellence, a Christian means. Faith 
saves, faith works, faith walks, faith brings in, faith finds welcome, 
faith conquers, subdues kingdoms, works righteousness, obtains 
promises, wages valiant fight. I desire to urge the cultivation of 
faith. The preacher needs to be full of faith ; to be the means of 
faith to his hearers. Without faith he can neither please God nor 
man. Hast thou faith ? Dost thou believe ? 

It is the preacher's duty and to his interest to be the means of faith 
in others. Faith comes by hearing, but not alone by hearing. Were 
hearing alone the instrumental cause and faith the consequence, then 
all who hear would believe. He that winneth souls is wise, and he 
who is a means of faith can win souls. The following hints have 
often aided many: The preacher must show that he has a good 
religion himself ; there must exist faith in him before there will be 
faith in his sermon ; he must be what he desires others to become ; 
he must be well acquainted with the Word of God — not a novice ; he 
must be kind, courteous, diligent ; he must preach the whole gospel 
— a portion to every man as he needs it, all true things to all men. 
There are helps to faith. ( 1 ) One help is prayer. Some people will 
never obtain full faith till they pray. (2) Another is confession. 
This has a wonderful power to reconcile to God and give confidence. 
( 3 ) Another is baptism. This was designed as the answer of a good 
conscience, and a tangible work to strengthen faith. (4) The atone- 
ment, or Christ crucified. There are many other means, but I shall 
not .name them now. I want to insist on these being used as a means 
of faith. Preach them, and urge to practice. 

Brother Summerbell : Please explain the following text : Acts 2: 41. 

Reply. I will explain several texts, as requested, without intro- 
ducing the letters. 



EXPOSITIONS 405 

Acts 2: 41. Three thousand baptized. It does not say that they 
were baptized that day ; it does not say. that they were baptized by 
Peter; it may have been by the one hundred and twenty. (Acts 
1: 15 and 2:1.) It does not say that they were baptized in or at 
Jerusalem. There was plenty of water in Jerusalem. The pool of 
Bethesda was eight feet deep by one hundred and twenty long. 
There is not one word in the whole to weaken the idea of true 
baptism. 

Gen. 4: 16. Cain in the land of Nod. The scripture says noth- 
ing about Cain's getting a wife in the land of Nod. The simple 
history is that after the statement that Cain moved to the land of 
Nod, the family record is given, and his wife and son named in 
connection with his future life. 

Rom. 6 : 4. Spirit baptism. Even if this were spirit baptism, 
the proof is the same, since the mode is not signified by the element, 
but the verb "baptized." If we are buried in spirit baptism, we are 
buried in water baptism also. 

Brother Summerbell. Can faith exist without works? J. K. D. 

Reply. Yes ! "To him that worketh not, but believeth." ( Rom. 
4:5.) But not without a disposition and willingness to work. A 
man without hands, or feet, or liberty, may repent and believe, and 
be saved without works ; but a man who possesses hands and feet, 
and refuses to obey, is counted an unbeliever; his faith is dead. He 
is an infidel in fact, though a believer in profession. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 11, 1877 : 

ORTHODOX AND EVANGELICAL. 

It is an ill wind that blows no good, and the late controversy be- 
tween the sister churches — Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian — 
has brought them all to a clearer definition of what is evangelical. 
It is now defined to signify peculiar harmony with the gospel ; and 
the reason why some Baptists insist upon reordaining converts from 
the Methodist ministry is because the ' ; Methodist is not a New Tes- 
tament church." We are glad that the Methodists do not retort by 
denouncing the Baptists, and that the Presbyterians can fellowship 
both, notwithstanding they may not admit their ministers to the 
Presbyterian pastorship on their previous papers. Every tendency 
to simplify in charity is valuable, and good can grow out of mistaken 
zeal. 

It is now generally decided that the New Testament is the test 
of truth. This is a great victory. Is it possible to utilize it? Will 



406 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the Baptist come down to this test ? Will the Methodist come up to 
it ? Will the Presbyterian come across to it ? Will they permit the 
Christians to remain on it ? 

DESIRE. 

We doubt not the sincere desire of all denominations to be ortho- 
dox and evangelical. It is their privilege so to be, and any advice 
which I may be able to render shall be freely given to this end. 
There are many things in these three churches which demand our 
admiration and respect, and cause us to lament the sectional differ- 
ences, which cause jealousies and impair their honest endeavors for 
usefulness, not only by opposition, but by lessening their power over the 
unconverted. The sinner sees that the Episcopalian will not admit 
the Congregationalist to his pulpit, and it lessens his faith in both ; the 
Baptist excludes the Presbyterian from the table as unbaptized, and 
the unbeliever is confirmed in his doubts; the Roman church de- 
nounces them all, and Christ's wounds bleed afresh ! It is the duty 
of the well-disposed to assist in the work of bringing all, as far as 
possible, to the gospel standard, and to a position where they will 
recognize each other as orthodox. 

THE REFORMATION. 

In the early dawn of the great Reformation, it would not have 
been very easy to have left at once all the corruptions of popery, on 
account of prejudice; yet the great reformers, at times, grasped 
after a purely biblical creed even then. Had they attained to this, 
and united upon the Bible, and, without tyranny over each other, 
trusted the work of purifying to the Holy Spirit and the power of 
truth, they would have conquered. 

INFALLIBLE. 

Men desire to look up to a tangible infallible, and how superior 
would have appeared an infallible 

BIBLE 

For the central standard, when compared to an erring pope! In 
confining themselves to the Word of God with liberty, they would 
have united discordant elements which eventually took many back 
to popery. All the Protestant world could have rallied around the 
divine standard, composing one great imposing evangelical body. 
With such advantage, united Protestantism would have taken the 
world. Imagine the scene : On this side, united Protestantism with 
the Bible ; on the other, popery with its errors and the pope. The 
contest would have been short and the victory certain. But though 
the reformers missed the grand opportunity, it is still in reach, if 
only bigotry does not prevent our grasping it ; but the victory is not 
in the direction of priestcraft or popery, but in evangelical faith and 



ORTHODOXY 407 

charity. The evangelical faith is the Bible faith. Jesus says, 
" Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be 
rooted up " ; "every stone " which the Master-builder hath not chosen 
"must be thrown down"; "every branch in me that beareth . . . 
fruit, he purgeth it," said Jesus. They must seek to be p urged of 
every saying for which they have not a "thus saith the Lord." The 
process is orthodox, easy, and evangelical without error attainable. 

Consider what an army of the Lord there would be, if all the 
floating fragments of the great, general church of Christ were built 
into one church under the Bible banner! But they would not be 
alone, but Catholics would soon see the superiority of a Bible people 
united in Christ, and the good and pious Catholics would forsake 
their unevangelical communion till there would be one fold and one 
Shepherd. You need not give up one orthodox doctrine, for all 
orthodox doctrine you will find best worded in God's own statement, 
and eminently evangelical. Purge away everything unbiblical from 
your religion ; all forms and ceremonies, ordinances, tests, and crite- 
rions unknown to the Bible ; lay aside all unbiblical names for God, 
Christ, the Spirit, atonement, the ordinances, and the church, and 
adopt the pure language of Canaan. In everything have God's 
spirit to bear witness with your spirit that you are the children of 
God. Abandon all that you cannot read in the Word. The Word 
of God, and it alone, is certainly orthodox, and every deviation from 
it, for better or worse, is a step of doubt, if not of error, while to be 
biblical is to be orthodox without doubt. 

Let God be your only God; let Christ be your only leader; let the 
Bible be your only guide; and all Christians be your brethren; 
believe every Bible doctrine ; practice only Bible precepts; know only 
Bible ordinances ; believe only Bible faith ; prove to the world that 
the greatest of all is charity, then the kingdom of God will come, 
and his will will be done in earth as it is in heaven. 

TWO HEAPS — II. KINGS 10:8. 

The Christians, who extend equal fellowship to all who receive the 
Bible and follow Jesus, are often pained to find men claiming to be 
orthodox, and even friends of union uniting in the cry of "persecu- 
tion against one class of their brethren for sentiments held by others 
who are in high favor." This is illustrated in the following, com- 
piled from the New York Sim : 

WAS HE HERETIC, HYPOCRITE, OR NEITHER? 

Henry Ward Beecher, in a speech concerning the famous trial of bis 
father for heresy, in 1834, said: " That trial exhibited as magnificent an 
instance as ever was on record of the ingenuity of an honest man mak- 
ing it appear that he believed in things which he not only did not 
believe in, but revolted against from the hair on the top of his head to 
the soles of his feet." 



408 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

While in Boston, Dr. Beecher endeavored to modify the Calvinistic 
creed, so as to make it acceptable to Congregationalists, who were inclin- 
ing toward Unitarianism. 

After one of these outbreaks, the doctor would resume his chair, put 
on his spectacles, look very gravely at the class, and say: " Young gen- 
tlemen, you must not repeat any of these ideas outside of the college 
grounds; for if you do, you'll frighten all the ministers and other old 
women in this part of the country half to death." 

After a year or two, the heresy hunters brought Beecher to bay. 
They arraigned him first before the presbytery, whence the case ulti- 
mately reached the synod. Dr. Wilson, long, lank, learned, logical, led 
for the prosecution. A great crowd witnessed the combat. Divines 
came from long distances, among whom were some of Dr. Beecher's 
eminent friends from the East, and conspicuously by his side stood the 
tall form of Dr. Justin Edwards, the president of the theological semi- 
nary at Andover. 

Dr. Beecher made a masterly effort to prove that the writings and 
sermons were, when fairly construed, in accord with the Confession of 
Faith — the Westminster Catechism. It was a wonderfully able argu- 
ment as a whole, while the hair-splitting of certain points was of the 
most ingenious and felicitous description. 

Said one of the Doctor's profane parishioners, when, with a rapid 
series of leaps and bounds, he escaped from the tightest place into 
which his pursuers had run him: "My God! how splendidly the old 
fellow broke through that jungle ! " 

On the last day of the speech the doctor entertained a dinner party 
at his house. He presided at the dinner, told taking stories, and slyly 
added a few links to his long-drawn chain of argument. All was going 
along swimmingly as hilarity circled up and down and around the 
ample table, when suddenly, amid the clatter of knives and forks, a 
voice from the lower end of the festive board broke in with these w T ords: 
"Father, I listened to your speech before the synod to-day. I know 
that you are plaguey good at twisting, but if you can twist your creed 
onto the Confession of Faith, you can twist better than I think you can.' r 

The Doctor's countenance fell a little. Promptly rallying, he said to 
his dumb-struck visitors: "All of my boys are rather smart, but some 
of them are rather impudent." The voice that rose from the lower end 
of the table was the voice of Henry Ward Beecher. 

. . . The church standards, of which he considered himself the repre- 
sentative and defender, in the words of Henry Ward Beecher, "He not 
only did not believe in them, but revolted against them from the hair 
on the top of his head to the soles of his feet." 

And such is the case with a majority of intelligent ministers. 

Michael Servetus was put to death for denying the trinity, though 
he admitted the word "trinity" confessed a "trinity of revelation?* 
"Christ as God," etc. Yet Luther, and Melancthon, and Calvin had 
all objected to the trinity, and the views of the many modern divines 
of the first standing are no more orthodox than those called heretical. 
The great Prof. Stuart concedes that none of the "fathers" held the 
"equality," and he repudiates "three persons as tritheism." Dr. 
Clarke denies any sonship of Christ before Mary. Neander confesses 
the trinity is not a fundamental doctrine of Christianity. What I 
insist upon is that there be no invidious discrimination. If Eusebius 
was a heretic, so was Neander; if Dr. S. Clarke was a heretic, so 
was Dr. A. Clarke; if Sir Isaac Newton was a heretic, so was 



ORTHODOXY 40 9 J 

Prof. Stuart; if the Independent is heretical, so is the Advance. Let 
the Joabs make two heaps or none. If Luther, and Clarke, and 
Cook are to stand, let the others who hold kindred faith stand also. 
We cannot discriminate without a difference. We want to fellow- 
ship all who love Jesus, and what we plead for is not only charity, but- 
justice as well. We want those of like faith to cease to persecute 
each other. We hold our faith as most orthodox, yet we cannot 
forego charity. 

CREEDS AT THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH. 

The Watchman, an able Baptist paper of Boston, says : 

Among those who recognize the importance of creed statements, and 
the duty of churches to both teach and bear witness to the truth, there 
is not entire agreement in defining their proper place. It is questioned, 
for example, whether assent to a confession of faith should be required 
of candidates for church membership. In favor of such requirement, it 
is obvious to remark that a church cannot fulfill its function as a teach- 
ing agency, without a common understanding as to the truth to be 
taught. If destructive errors may be allowed in the general fellowship, 
it will be impossible to keep them out of the pulpit. All evangelical 
Christians hold that there is an important connection between what 
men believe concerning God and Christ, and their own spiritual charac- 
ter ; and while they do not presume to limit the grace of God by deciding 
that errors of belief are necessarily fatal to living piety, they cannot but 
perceive a fatal tendency, against which they feel bound to guard by 
" keeping the faith." A living church is one that holds and lives by the 
essential truths of the gospel. It must, therefore, refuse fellowship to 
such as deny those truths. ... To ask a mere child, or a man who never 
before reflected on the subject, to assent to a definition of the trinitj 7 , of 
original sin, of election, adoption and perseverance, of regeneration and 
sanctification, etc., seems on its face absurd. If assent is given, what is 
such ignorant assent worth? If it is refused, what does the refusal argue 
against one's fitness for church membership? 

But though the question is not free from difficulties in its practical 
settlement, there will be found in most cases an easy solution. The 
creed must be maintained and made a standard of common appeal — not 
as containing the whole truth, noras the ultimate authority, but as that 
which we are mutually agreed in asserting. 

Reply. Every church has a right to maintain its own church 
polity, but when it makes dogmas nowhere named in the Word of 
God, or insists upon unscriptural doctrines and unscriptural names ; 
and more, when it insists that those thus holding are more pious than 
others, we call for the proof. 

By ' ' trinity, original sin, election, " etc. , the Watchman means the 
peculiar views on those subjects as held by the Catholics and stated 
in the creeds. I hold that there is no proof that those holding these 
in the creed form are more pious than others ; that is, I deny that 
the Catholics, who hold the trinity, are more pious than the Sweden- 
borgians, who deny it ; or that the old school Baptists, who hold to 
unconditional election, are more pious than the Methodists, who deny 
it; or that the Lutherans, who hold to "original sin entailed upon 



410 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

children, are more virtuous than Unitarians and Methodists, who 
deny it. When these denominations claim a monopoly of piety, we 
ask for the testimony. On their side are the great national churches 
— Roman, Greek, Lutheran, English, etc., the pulpits of every one 
of which are filled by ministers professing no change of heart, and 
the majority of whose communicants hardly equal in morality 
common non-professors. The smaller sects, as Quakers, Swedenbor- 
gians, Unitarians, Moravians, etc., to say nothing of Methodists, 
average far higher in morals than most of the sects which teach, with 
Calvin, that infants bring their damnation into the world with them. 
Jesus said, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the 
commandments of men." (Mark 7:7.) And that is an end of con- 
troversy with those who prefer Christ's doctrines to men's dogmas. 

PECULIARITIES OF THE GREEK CHURCH. 

The Greek holds, with the Roman, the seven sacraments — the 
mass, veneration of the Virgin Mary, saints, and pictures. It disowns 
the pope, claims no infallibility, and practices trine immersion. It 
dispenses the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and gives communion to 
children after baptism. It denies purgatory, but prays for the dead. 
It holds that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father, and not from 
the Son. It admits of no images, but has paintings and engravings. 
It approves of the marriage of priests before taking orders, but 
condemns second marriages of priests and fourth marriages of lay- 
men. It recognizes the Bible as the rule of faith, and is the oldest 
church in existence that has continued its organization from the 
apostles' days till now. It holds to the first seven councils, but to 
none of the Roman Catholic councils later. 

In the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 18, 1877 : 

"A LITTLE CHILD." (Isaiah 11:6.) 

1. The prophet said that wild beasts should become tame, and a 
little child should lead them. Jesus taught that things hid from the 
wise and prudent were revealed to babes. He took them in his arms ; 
he laid his hands upon them ; he prayed for them ; he blessed them ; 
he said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." "It is not the will of 
your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should 
perish." "In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my 
Father which is in heaven." "Whoso shall receive one such little 
child in my name receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these 
little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone 
were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth 
of the sea." "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come 
unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." "Except ye be 
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven." 



CHILDHOOD . 411 

Any minister who, after all this, can teach that infants are totally 
depraved, has little regard for Jesus or for truth. 

2. Children can understand. Many of our best lessons we learned 
when we were children. An old schoolmaster said one day to a 
clergyman who came to examine his school, ' ' I believe the children 
know the catechism word for word." " But do they understand it ? " 
The teacher called a little boy to repeat the fifth commandment. He 
repeated Exodus 20 : 12. "Explain it, 1 ' said the teacher. With face 
covered with blushes, the little one said: "Yesterday I showed 
some strange gentlemen over the mountain. The sharp stones cut 
my feet, and the gentlemen saw them bleeding, and they gave me 
some money to buy shoes. I gave it to my mother, for she had no 
shoes either, and I thought I could go barefoot better than she." 

Most people love children. The preachers who have taught total 
depravity are the exception to our common humanity. The doctrine 
of the Roman Church, that unbaptized children. cannot enter heaven, 
is monstrous— a sad comment on the heartlessness of her unmarried 
clergy. 

There is something attractive about a child when comparatively 
helpless. 

"Who can tell what a baby thinks? 
Who can follow the gossamer links 
By which the manikin feels her way 
Out from the shores of the great unknown, 
Blind and wailing and all alone, 
Into the light of day?" 

"Those little wondering eyes, those tugging, catching hands, pull- 
ing here and there, as though they would draw everybody to them ! 
Who has not felt in their presence the force of the inquiry, What 
does the baby think ? " 

"The child leans on its parent's breast — 
Leaves there its cares, and is at rest. 
The bird sits singing by its nest, 
And tells aloud his trust in God, 
And so is blest 'neath every cloud. 
I would not have the restless will 
That hurries to and fro, 
Seeking for some great things to do, 
Or secret things to know. 
I would be dealt with as a child, 
And guided where to go." 

St. Paul says to Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the 
holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus." Indeed, the best of all times 
to educate is in early life. Then the heart soil is fresh; the heart 



412 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

itself is pure and tender ; the garden of the mind is not grown up with 
the weeds of sin, and good plants have time to take root before they 
are choked with the tares of life. The prettiest picture in the Bible 
is that of Jesus folding the child to his loving heart. It is a view of 
God in his Son, loving children; the great Creator turning to the 
new-born creature to embrace his own work ; the Deliverer coming to 
redeem the first fruit to himself. 

3. The lesson. A little child shall lead them, — that is, a little 
child shall instruct, teach, and guide the hardened heart of man in 
heaven's loving way. The childlike spirit shall tame the lion, pla- 
cate the tiger, soothe the leopard, govern the bear— the ferocious 
animal of our nature. If we desire to convert the world we must 
begin with the children — take them to our hearts as did Jesus; fold 
them in our arms as the Master did ; touch them, lay our hands upon 
them and bless them, as the wonderful Son of God did. Teach them 
early, treat them kindly, instruct them faithfully, give them the best 
example, give them the best lessons, spare no pains, but train them 
up for God and for usefulness. 

REMISSION OF SIN. 

A question in which the guilty are deeply concerned is the remis- 
sion of sins. The high-priests' doctrine, that it is only through their 
mediation, or the virtue of their pardoning power, or their sacraments 
or church ordinances, that a sinner can obtain remission, narrows 
the way to pardon, so that it is no wonder that their doorway is 
crowded with multitudes of men seeking remission. But is this true ? 
Remission is first mentioned in connection with John's preaching as 
a baptism of repentance, "John did baptize in the wilderness, and 
preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." 

First, remission in Jesus' name is in prophecy of John: "And 
thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest : for thou shalt 
go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways ; to give knowledge 
of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins." 

The next connects it with the communion in Jesus' own words, 
" Drink ye all of it ; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which 
is shed for many for the remission of sins." 

The next is also in the words of Jesus, but a charge to continue the 
same doctrine in all future preaching. He says: "Then opened he 
their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and 
said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to 
suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day : and that repentance 
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all 
nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these 
things." (Luke 24:45-48.) 

This closes the word's use before the ascension, and gives us the 
words of the commission on remission, in accordance with which we 



REMISSION OF SIN 413 

are to understand the words of Peter after the ascension, when he 
says, ;t Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of 
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of 
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, 
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
call." " To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name 
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While 
Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which 
heard the word." 

St. Paul connects remission with the death of Christ through faith 
and God's mercy, saying, "Whom God hath set forth to be a propiti- 
ation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the 
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." 

In Hebrews, next, we have this text concerning the old as well as 
the new, "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; 
and without shedding of blood is no remission." And connected with 
conversion in the new covenant is this text: "This is the covenant 
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will 
put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; 
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where 
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." 

The whole seems to make remission a free gift of God through 
Jesus Christ, without let or hindrance from high-priest or low-priest, 
sect or bishop. The texts are as follows: Mark 1:4; Luke 1 : 76, 
77 ; Matt. 26:28; Luke 24 : 45-48 ; Acts 2 ! 38, 39 and 10 : 43, 44; 
Rom. 3 : 25 ; Heb. 9 : 22 and 10 : 16-18. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of September 8, 1877: 
OUR DOCTRINE. 

How do the Christians stand in regard to doctrine and principles with 
the Christian world ? Please answer and oblige Many Readers. 

Reply. The Christians hold what may be called "conservative 
orthodoxy." They strip so-called orthodox doctrines of all popish 
dress, and hold them in biblical truth ; but Hold them. We do not 
encourage or tolerate attacks on the Bible ; we stand or fall with the 
Bible. If the Bible be true, as we affirm, it is the foundation of all 
truth; if the Bible were not true (which is impossible), we have no 
business as a church, and should disband. Only imposters will call 
themselves Christians, to preach against Christianity and use the 
Bible to combat its truths. When I say that we hold the Bible 
truths, stripped of popish pollution, I mean that we hold them in 
Bible language just as the prophets did, as Jesus did, and as the early 
Christians did. The things which we have to assure our faith are : 

1 . We hold the truth in its normal and scriptural form, as it was 
in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. 



414 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

■2. We hold it in the words in which God gave it, prophets wrote 
it, Christ spake it, and the apostles taught it. 

3. We will neither add to the words for popery nor give them up 
for liberty. If the improved forms are taught in the Bible, it must 
be in the Bible language. If that is the way God chose 'to teach 
them, that is the way we choose. If we can learn them in Bible 
language we have no need of formulas ; if we cannot, then we did not 
learn them in the Bible. 

4. We know that we are right because all denominations admit 
what we say. The only doubt is upon men's additions. 

There is one God. All respond, " Correct." 

Christ is the Son of God. "Correct." 

The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God. "Correct." 

The Bible is the word of God. "Correct." 

The mediator is between God and men. " Correct." 

The Bible is the only perfect creed. "Correct." 

Jesus died for all. "Correct." 

We must repent. " Correct." 

We must believe. ' ' Correct. " 

We must be converted. "Correct." 

We must obey the Lord. "Correct." 

Immersion is baptism . ' ' Cor rec t . " 

We pray for union. ' ' Correct. " 

We fellowship all saints. " Correct." 

We must hold out faithful. l ' Correct. " 

There is a judgment after death. " Correct." 

And eternal life. " Correct." 

If, in hastily writing, any word is used which is not found in the 
Bible, it is open for erasure. We do not make it a test, or offend 
Christians by defending it. The Christians stand with both feet 
squarely upon the Bible platform. We hold the fort of truth. On 
one side a hundred sects have each one foot upon it, and we welcome 
them. On the other side a score of skeptics invite us to stand upon 
their beach of sand, but we say, "No, thank you, gentlemen! 11 The 
Rock of truth is long enough, and broad enough, and high enough, 
and good enough. A wave of truth comes, and the sand is deluged 
and the skeptics are drowning". Another wave of truth and a hun- 
dred boats are tossed and rattling together, but sailors cling to the 
rock and are safe. 

Said Dr. Kendrick, of Indianapolis, "When the water came, I, 
being a good swimmer, plunged in and swam to shore." Said Dr. 
Kendrick, his brother (deceased), "Being on the rock, I remained 
where I was." 

Jesus said, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth 
them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a 
rock: . . . and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 



OON VERTS — BAPTISM 415 

doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his 
house upon the sand." 

CARE FOR CONVERTS. 

"He was angry, and would not go in." (Luke 15 : 28.) We are 
social beings, and become discouraged without society. The converts 
leave their worldly society and look for welcome by the elder 
brothers and sisters in the church. If they do not find it they are 
driven back to the world. The elder brother of the prodigal was 
angry, and would not go in. He regarded his brother with jealousy ; 
he called over his past sins ; he begrudged his present welcome ; he 
was angry, and would not go in! So, oftentimes, elder members 
treat the converts coldly. Beware of this ! They need your care and 
your countenance. The church cannot live on the old harvests ; there 
must be new crops, new vines, new trees, new gardens. These are 
made of children and converts. Never refuse a child that is old 
enough to believe, and regard the younger as the children of the 
church just as Jesus received them. Read Matt. 18 and 19 and 
they will tell you all about it. 

Elder brothers, restrain your anger. Let not the sun go down on 
your wrath. Jacob said of envious brothers : "In their anger they 
slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. Cursed 
be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. 1 ' 
Anger is ever fierce, and envy is ever cruel. Look up the converts ! 
Invite them to your house ! Take care of the children ! 

IS IMMERSION BAPTISM? 

This is the same as to say, Is immersion immersion ? The English 
word ''dipping, 1 ' Latin ' ' immersing, " Greek "baptizing," are all one 
word pronounced in different tongues. We confine the word ' ' bap- 
tize " to. sacred baptism, because the word in that Greek form has 
come to us as a sacred word. So when a Baptist or Disciple says, 
"Have you been immersed?" he alludes to baptism to Christ, and 
not to any diving or swimming immersion. So that though a swim- 
mer should answer, "No, I have not yet been baptized," he would 
not mean that he had not performed the act or been in the condition 
that he would be in when religiously baptized. We can use the word 
"dip " the same way. If a company were at the water baptizing, and 
should you say to a Methodist minister, "Have you been dipped ? " 
he could answer, "No," truthfully, though he had been under the 
water as a swimmer many times, because he knows that you allude 
to the sacred ordinance, and not to ordinary washing, diving, dip- 
ping, or sinking and rising. So that just as one truthfully says 
immersion is not (always or necessarily Christian) baptism, so neither 
is it (Christian) dipping or immersion. To answer the question, let 
us examine what is or is not baptism. 



416 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

1. The command to baptize is not baptism. 

2. Ceremony is not baptism. 

3. The administrator is not baptism. 

4. The subject to be baptized is not baptism. 

5. The going down into the water to baptize is not baptism. 

G. The willingness to be baptized is not baptism. See Matt. 3:13. 

7. Conversion and enjoyment of spirit is not baptism. "Can any 
man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have 
received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? " (Acts 10 : 47.) 

8. Received by the baptizer is not baptism, for "they went down 
both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized 
him." (Acts 8:38.) 

Baptism was : 

1. Something Christ commanded preachers to do. 

2. Something that they did after going down into the water. 

3. Something called a burial, a washing, a resurrection. "Buried 
with him by baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised up 
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should 
walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the 
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrec- 
tion." (Rom. 6 : 4, 5.) See also Col, 2 : 12 and 3 : 1. 

They baptized only where there was water, and the want of water 
would prevent the baptism (Acts 10:47). So that though all im- 
mersions are not Christian baptisms, there is no baptism without 
immersion. 

ROMAN SYMPATHY. 

"Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel." 

"The French are zealously working for the Turks. They have 
made them fifty thousand Avoolen shirts for winter, on the collars of 
which are Mohammedan emblems and even texts from the* Koran." 

Few will at first see into this till they remember that the Eastern 
Church never acknowledged the pope, and the Romans want them 
killed off. In 1453 the Turks came to Constantinople, and since then 
have lived in Europe as public robbers. They came as robbers, and 
have remained as such, devastating and destroying the people and 
the country. Of their property, except by robbery, they have none. 
Their morals are a disgrace to humanity ; their injustice and cruelty 
are a reproach to the world. They are natural barbarians whom 
religious jealousy has left in possession of the finest provinces of 
Europe for nearly five centuries; and now, when struggling in the 
jaws of the dragon, the sympathies of bigots are with these oppress- 
ors, and the delicate fingers of Catholic maidens embroider the shirts 
of the savages who abuse virgins, cut open women, and murder and 
burn for pleasure. Here are the questions : 

1. What rights had the Turks in Europe when they came ? 



THE GREAT AND GOOD 417 

2. Have they a right to continue the oppression of the native 
Christians ? 

3. Can we approve of their manners, or morals, or their treatment 
of women, or of the Christians ? 

4. If neither, why have they our countenance ? 

" O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, 
mine honour, be not thou united." 

THE GREAT AND GOOD. 

It is a consolation to the Christian that while we hold the true faith 
of the scriptures, ' ' as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall 
be," even in the very words of God and his dear Son, that yet, also, 
notwithstanding the exceedingly sanguinary laws against the truth, 
and the unchristian spirit of ostracism against those who hold the 
evangelical truth, yet the leading men — the great and good of every 
age and every sect — have held the same fundamental faith held by 
the Christians now. We reckon, first, all the prophets and apostles, 
Moses the lawgiver, and St. Paul the great apostle ; then the blessed 
Son of God himself, and all the holy angels, with Cod the judge of 
all (see Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:28; John 17:3; I. Cor. 8:4-6), but 
also all the primitive church. The great Prof. Stuart, also Neander, 
the historian, and others, confess that the faith of the ancient church, 
in these very particulars, varied from the modern faith ; then, also, we 
claim both the most ancient historians, and such men in modern 
times as Luther, Hunnias, Dr. Samuel Clarke, Sir Isaac Watts, 
Milton, Locke, and Newton, and the principal writers and leading 
thinkers. So that the evangelical Christian has not only heaven, 
God, and the Bible on his side but the ancient church and the best 
minds of the modern church. Indeed, we doubt not the true evan- 
gelical faith of the vast majority of the leading (converted) ministers 
of all denominations, and believe that the unevangelical formulas of 
the fashionable standards are a source of sacred grief to many, or 
most of those who are acquainted with the Bible and love its truth. 
We can therefore feel that we have many "seven thousand " brethren 
who love the truth as it is in Jesus. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of September 29, 1877 : 

Assist the minister by words, by acts, by means. ^ . 

Christianity was never before so popular. 

The gospel is the greatest power known on earth. Even the law 
is weak for good compared with the gospel. 

Children, try to comfort your parents. They will soon be gone, 
and you may shed many bitter tears when too late. 

27 



418 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Parents should carefully teach religion to their children. The 
young heart is susceptible to every Christian influence. Some chil- 
dren make their religious training evident to all, and some show the 
contrary. Just as the twig is bent the tree is inclined. 

Christians "not under the law" does not mean that we make void 
the law, but that, being saved in righteousness, the law has no claims 
upon us. If a Christian sins, and is impenitent, the law condemns 
him as much now as it ever did. The great effort should be to keep 
from sin and to glorify God. 

It is pleasant to contemplate the rapid advance of religious senti- 
ment in the Christian world. Notwithstanding all that may be 
said, and truthfully said, of dogmas and the dark ages, persecution 
and popery, creeds and credulity, the advanced Protestant mind has 
little concern for anything but the Bible and Christlike Christianity. 

In preaching, nature and philosophy were Christ's common text- 
books. He taught by texts of the farm and the field, the laborer and 
the lily, the net and the vine, the sunlight and clear water, the lost, 
sheep and the gentle shower. So the good disciple finds lessons 
everywhere, and hills and valleys are full of books. There may be 
lessons in Jesus infinitely above the capacity of our nature to know 
at present, but we do not believe that there is one lesson ever taught 
by the divine Master that is contrary to nature or to reason. 

NEGATIVE — AFFIRMATIVE. 

" As God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. 
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among 
you by us, even by me and Sylvanus and Timotheus, was not 
yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of 
God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God 
by us." (II. Cor. 1 : 18-20.) Let me exhort my dear brother 
ministers to have their ministry more and more of an affirm- 
ative character ; not yea and nay, but yea and amen. It is 
true that there is much of a" negative form, and of a death 
nature, and many plants to be rooted up ; but we have not 
time to do it all. We must take time to do something for 
ourselves. We must not only clear, but plow, and sow, and 
reap. One of our pioneer fathers might have worked clearing 
land till all his family perished ; but he was more thoughtful, 
and as soon as he got a little field clear, or before, he erected 
his cabin, then planted a garden, soon sowed a field, and 



NEGATIVE — AFFIRMATIVE 419 

cleared the land by degrees, his sons, perhaps, flanking the 
forest, and going around to the prairie already cleared. Do 
not expend all your time and strength fighting error, but get 
early to work to win souls to Christ. Study the road to 
success in the gospel. Let not little things divert, nor great 
things discourage. The celestial company with Jesus was 
darkened by the morose countenance of Judas, but Mary 
emptied the alabaster box on the head of Jesus all the same. 
When the sons of God came to present themselves before the 
Lord, Satan came also. "It must needs be," said Jesus, "that 
offences come." But we must go on with the work of salvation. 
Tell, Woe is me if I preach not the gospel ! Every one can win 
a soul or two. Try how many ! Are you weak ? Fear not ; 
the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to every one 
that believeth," and you can preach it in simplicity, and that is 
the best preaching. Organize your forces, have a praying band, 
get your singers ready, appoint missionaries to go from house to 
house, exhort, persuade, warn, entreat, with prayers and tears ; 
also use all the means affirmatively. One may be converted 
by repentance, another won by faith, a third charmed by the 
new birth, a fourth by baptism, a fifth by the atonement, a 
sixth by well doing. Magnify all ! Do not tell so much what 
they are not, or not for (that scatters), as what they are. If 
they want to serve God, try every remedy for sin ; consider 
the principles and facts of the gospel as tools to work with — 
a sword to handle, an arrow to discharge, a lance to dart, a net 
to cast. Look over your tools, and go to work to win. Ask 
God to give you wisdom, for he has promised ; ask Christ to 
strengthen you, for he is able ; ask the Spirit to direct you, for 
it shall be given. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty, October 6, 1877: 

OUR MISSION. 

The mission of the Christians is the restoration of the gospel 
to its ancient purity of verbal exactness to the scripture testi- 
mony, in the spirit of charity and love. It is a great and good 



420 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

work, and one that may well rank among the greatest blessings 
of this or any age. In bringing this humble offering to the 
shrine of our common Christianity we do not desire to diminish 
the glory of others, but we regard this as our peculiar work. 
It is certain that there is no dominant sentiment of scholastic 
theology that is capable of being worded in Bible language; and 
yet it is capable of easy demonstration that the Bible statement 
is the exact doctrine which has been communicated to us from 
heaven. . . . The sentiment, clearly conveyed in the very words 
of the Bible, is the meaning which the Bible is designed to 
convey, and any deviation from this renders the doctrine with- 
out divine authority. The word of God is the word of God 
only while remaining in the words which the Holy Spirit 
spake. Change these words and they may be the words of 
men or of (evil) angels, but they are no longer the words of 
God. And so, if the sentiment which we attach to the words is 
not certainly contained in them, but requires more specific 
words, then it is equally certain that the sentiment or doctrine 
is not God's doctrine, but the doctrine of some one who, dis- 
satisfied with the doctrine of God, has substituted some other 
doctrine. 

There are several evils connected with a departure from the 
words of the Holy Ghost and the doctrine contained in them 
concerning God. 

1. It shows a corresponding dissatisfaction with God. To 
illustrate, suppose that we prefer some improved words of our 
own to the scripture statement on God (It is quite possible to 
prefer human words, yet consider ourselves quite orthodox !). 
Now, suppose a brother to prefer the words of the Bible and 
the sentiment apparently conveyed by those words, but reject- 
ing our improved words ! Then, because he rejects our 
improved statement, and adheres to the Bible statement, we 
call such a one an infidel or an unbeliever ! Is it not evident 
that we thus denounce God, and even Christ, in the person of 
his disciple? For if we denounce one for holding to Bible 
words, and for rejecting our words, and judge him a heretic, 
our condemnation must fall upon God, who spake these words 



OUR MISSION 4.21 

and rejected our improved words. So that we not only reject 
the word of God but God and Christ also. We believe that 
the tendency of all denominations is to the verbal Bible state- 
ment, and that in advocating it we are fighting a battle in 
which all are indirectly interested ; therefore, we ask the favor 
of all. 

2. It is certain that the Bible statement has all the doctrine 
that is contained in the Bible ; therefore, whatever of any 
doctrine is not certainly set forth, is not there, and should be 
avoided. A departure from the Bible statement is further 
dangerous in that it leads to blasphemy. Suppose a man to 
conceive of God or Christ correctly, in the exact words of the 
Bible, as they did in the first ages, but on account of our 
preference for the improved statement in other words, his view 
seems to us deficient, and we say of his view, "If God, or if 
Christ, be such as those words certainly indicate, we will not 
love or trust him" ; or, as Wesley said of Whitefield's Calvin- 
istic views of God, " This makes God worse than the devil," 
etc. ; or, "that this makes Christ so or so, which, if he be, I 
will not trust him." This is like blasphemy, and a virtual 
denial of God by us, while the man may believe just what the 
Bible teaches, and his views rejected by us may be the truth 
of God ! How very offensive then must be our contempt in 
the sight of God ! Let us believe what Christ's words teach, 
and, as Christ taught, teach. Let Christ be uppermost in all 
our actions and speech, and we shall be capable, through Jesus' 
grace, of doing immeasurable good. These three things are 
plain : 

1. That in preferring what seem to us more precise state- 
ments of truth than the Bible contains, we reject God's word 
and all certainty of truth. 

2. That in rejecting God's word, we reject God who gave 
it, and especially reject Christ as our teacher. 

3. Being led by our supposed superior statement to conceive 
a contempt for the true character of God, or of Christ, as pre- 
sented in the Bible words, we are led into blasphemous utter- 
ances. 



422 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The only certain remedy for these dreadful dangers is in 
an honest return to, and faith in, the plain Scripture statements 
of the word of God, in which alone we can or should have 
implicit confidence. Some ages have pleaded for the tomb of 
Christ, some for the cross of Christ. Let us contend for the 
words of Christ ; for the truth and for the Spirit of Christ. 
Thus we shall best promote truth, and love, and union among 
the followers of Christ. 

AN INTERESTING FAMILY. 

On St. Paul's journey, as he returned to Jerusalem for the last 
time (see Sunday-school lesson of October 7, 1877 — Acts 21 : 8-14), 
he put up at the house of Philip, one of the first Christian ministers 
ever ordained by the apostles. It is worthy of note that the father 
of this family was that great priest who had been so successful as a 
minister, both in Samaria and in Judea ; yet, contrary to the doctrine 
of that church whose chief discipline is " forbidding to marry, and 
commanding to abstain from meats" (see I. Tim. 4:3), this man 
lived with his family and was the father of four Christian daughters. 
Yet this minister of the New Testament is recorded as full of faith, 
and of the Holy Ghost, and of wisdom (Acts 6: 3-5), and had the 
express guidance of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:29-39), and was 
undoubtedly inspired with perfect knowledge of the right way of 
the Lord. (Acts 8 : 35.) The Scriptures speak of Paul's putting up 
there as follows : 

"And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and 
came unto Csesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the 
evangelist, which was one of the seven ; and abode with him. And 
the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 
And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a 
certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he 
took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus 
saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man 
that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the 
Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of 
that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul 
answered. What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart ? for I 
am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the 
name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we 
ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. " 

Is not this an interesting family ? How different from that of a 
Catholic priest! He "had four daughters, virgins, which did proph- 
esy." It is a very interesting fact that his four daughters were 



CALVINISM 423 

residing at home, and that they were prophetesses ; that is, persons 
gifted with the Holy Spirit, so that they could reveal truths and 
foretell future events. They are examples of the fulfillment of the 
prophet, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, that God's Spirit 
should come upon his "hand-maidens," and that "the daughters 
should prophesy" as well as the sons. (Joel 2: 28-30; Acts 2: 17, 
18; I. Tim. 2: 12; I. Cor. 14: 34.) We read of prophetesses under 
both the old and the new dispensations; as Miriam (Ex. 15: 20), 
Huldah (II. Kings 22: 14), Noadiah (Neh. 6: 14), Anna (Luke 2: 
36). It is probable that these daughters of Philip gave Paul some 
intimation of the sorrows that were before him, and which were 
foretold by Agabus. 

The house of Philip was a Christian home. Paul and his company 
abode with him many days. There also, during the time, came the 
certain prophet, Agabus, who showed Paul how he would be bound. 
Then the family, all, we think, besought Paul not to go up to Jerusa- 
lem. Note here that though inspired to foresee what would take 
place, they endeavored to avoid it. This was possible. See I. Sam. 
23: 9-13: "And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief 
against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the 
ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath 
certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the 
city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his 
hand ? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard ? O Lord 
God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, 
He will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah 
deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul ? And the Lord said, 
They will deliver thee up. Then David and his men, which were 
about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went 
whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was 
escaped from Keilah ; and he forebare to go forth." 

Here there was a plain statement of future things, possible and 
probable, but the facts were avoided by the revealed will of God ; so 
also the future events of Acts 27: 24-31 might have been. Notice 
the affection of this family — all besought Paul not to go. Next see 
their feeling — they wept. Notice Paul's sympathy — ' k What mean 
ye to weep and to break mine heart ? for I am ready." God give us 
many such! Then notice their resignation — "The will of the Lord 
be done." 

BAPTISM — REMINISCENCE. 

As during the cold winter of 1857, before railroads extended west 
of Iowa City, I was passing in a stage-coach over the State of Iowa, 
two ministers being aboard, we relieved the weary hours sometimes 
with theological discussion. On the trinity, no one could tell which 
denomination in fact made the Son equal with the Father, except in 



424 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

words, the Father being ever God and the Son sometimes less, the 
Father receiving all the atonement and the Son none, etc. On de- 
pravity, we could not determine clearly how Calvinists could save 
non-elect infants. But the real argument was on baptism. Finally 

a minister appealed to a learned merchant, member of a 

Brooklyn Congregational Church, who replied: "I cannot defend 
sprinkling. When I entered the firm with my father, he made me 
promise never to take an uncertainty when I could get a certainty. 
I concluded to be equally careful in religion ; and, as many doubt the 
validity of sprinkling, but the Bible seems to favor, and all admit 
that immersion is certainly baptism, I was immersed, concluding not 
to take an uncertainty when I could get a certainty." 

THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. 

"Who do men say that I the Son of man am?" said Jesus one 
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven years ago. The answer 
was, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and 
others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." But a Christian said, 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

Now, after one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven years, the 
question comes again, "Who do men say that I the Son of man 
am?" And the answer is, "Some say that thou art" an erring- 
man ; some, a perfect man ; some, the greatest man that ever lived ; 
others, that thou art two, one very man and one very God ; and 
others, that thou art the Michael, the archangel ; and some, a super- 
angelic being, the first created out of nothing ; and some, Jehovah, 
but not equal with the Father, but with explanations showing him 
not in everything equal. But the Christians answer now as they did 
one thousand eight hundred and forty -seven years ago — "Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt. 16: 16.) But why 
all this difference of opinion ? Because he is a wonderful Christ. 
Jesus is called God, man, angel, Son of man, everlasting Father, like 
or equal with God, mighty God, the only-begotten Son of God, by 
whom God made the worlds, the image of the invisible God, the 
brightness of God's glory, the firstborn of every creature, the be- 
ginning of the creation of God, worshiped by men and angels, having 
glory with God before the world, rich and become poor, having the 
form of God, taking the form of a servant, all power given to him 
in heaven and earth, now sitting on the throne of God, our King and 
yet our Mediator, and saying, "My Father is greater than I." We 
venture the assertion that there has never yet been, and never will 
be, a better answer given, or any answer that will suit all the above 
scriptural statements better than Peter's answer one thousand eight, 
hundred and forty-seven years ago, and the Christian's answer now : 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 



THE MOTHER CHURCH 425 

Io. Herald of Gospel Liberty of October 13, 1877 : 

CHURCH — CHRISTIAN OR CATHOLIC. 

Brother Summerbell: Is not the Roman Catholic Church the 
oldest church? # 

Reply. No ; when Christ called his church, there was no Catholic 
Church. The oldest church is what we call the Jewish Church. 
The Testament names it " His people whom he did foreknow " ; that 
is, his church which he did first own or acknowledge as his. That 
was the u olive tree into which Christians were grafted. 1 ' Read 
carefully Rom. 11 : 16-25 : "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump 
is also holy : and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if 
some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive- 
tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the 
root and fatness of the olive tree ; boast not against the branches. 
But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou 
wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed 
in. Well ; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou stand- 
est by faith. Be not highminded, but fear : for if God spared not 
the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold 
therefore the goodness and severity of God : on them which fell, 
severity ; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness :■ 
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide- 
not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in : for God is able to graff them 
in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild 
by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree : 
how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed 
into their own olive tree ? For I would not, brethren, that ye should 
be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own 
conceits." 

Of this olive-tree and its new oil, by the Holy Ghost, poured out 
as from two branches, read Zech. 4: 11-14; and for the manner 
in which it was transferred from Jews to Christians, read as follows : 
"The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a 
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matt. 21 : 43. Also see 
Acts 15:16.) That first church was called "Saints," "Jews" 
(Rom. 2:29), "Brethren," "Disciples," "Friends," "My EkTdesia" 
that is, congregation (mistranslated "church"), and finally all 
named by God "Christian." 

The name "church" is from Jciiriak, and means "the Lord's," and 
is never once given by inspiration to the people; but only to the 
Jcuria7c, "day" (Rev. 1:10), and the kuriou, "table" (I. Cor. 
11 : 20.) The word "church" does not occur in the words of inspi- 
ration in any other place but these two. But Jesus uses the word 
eklclesia, meaning "called out, assembly, congregation, or people," 



426 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

and our translators, by order of King James L, put the word 
"church" in every place where they thought God's people were 
meant. In Psalms 22: 16 and Acts 19: 32, 39, 41 they translated 
the same word, ekklesia (or church, as we have it), "assembly,"' 
because it meant a "mob," or "congregation of wicked persons." 
This shows that all the wrangling about the names — as "church of 
Christ," "church of God," etc. — is useless, as such phrases vanish 
the moment we look at the words of inspiration. 

Christ gathered his own church during his own active ministry 
previous to his death. Their translation from Judaism to Christian 
is called, "Conformed to the image of his Son"; Giving them 
"power to become the sons of God," etc. These were the precious 
ones : Peter, James, John, Mary, Martha, Elizabeth. Taking our 
translation as our guide, these were the people called a church where 
Jesus says : ' ' Upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt, 16 : 18.) "Tell it unto 
the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto 
thee as a heathen man and a publican." (Matt. 18 : IT.) The asser- 
tion that these called a church were not what we call a church till 
Pentecost is void of any article of proof. The phrase, ' ' I will build, " 
proves that Christ did it, and applies not only to the future, but to 
what he was then doing; as, "I will give you rest," "I will; be thou 
clean." There is not a particle of proof that any church was organ- 
ized on the day of Pentecost, but only that the converts "were added 
to them" — that is, "added to the church" already existing. (See 
Acts 2: 41, 47.) Who has a right to deny Christ's own church or 
people before Pentecost? Had they not Christ, the living head? 
Were they not branches in Christ, the living vine ? Were they not 
"converted," "baptized," "believers," "followers" of the Lamb? 
Did they not commune? What did they lack of being a church 
that any modern sect has ? Jesus called them his, and the impudence 
is inexcusable which denies that they were the true Jcuriakos, or 
church. This church antedates all sects. The first Roman baptized 
was Cornelius (Acts 10), after the first church of Christians had 
had an existence of many years, consequently the first church was 
not a Roman church. That church of Christ had no pope, "father." 
In truth, Christ forbade it calling any man "father" — that is, pope. 
{Pope means "father.") It had no robed priests, no wafers, no holy 
water, beads, crucifixes, monks, nuns ; no Nicene nor Athanasian 
creeds ; no cardinals nor archbishops. In short it had nothing that 
goes to constitute a Roman Catholic Church, but it was to all intents 
and purposes simply a church of Christians, with the Scriptures for 
their only creed, Christ for their only leader, Christian for their new 
name, and all Christians for their brethren. That was the oldest 
church, founded by Jesus, its head. 

The Roman Catholic Church is not the church of God at all ; only 



ROMANISM 427 

people in it are members of the church of God by spiritual union 
with Christ. But that corporation is the creature of the Roman 
government, an organized state religion established first by Constan- 
tine a.d. 324, and has been from the very first Roman in its origin, 
Roman in its spirit, Roman in its laws, Roman in its interests, Roman 
in its obedience, Roman in its hierarchy, Roman in its domination, 
Roman in its cruelty, Roman in its hatred to the rest of mankind. 
It inherited its Pope, Pontifex Maximus, from the Roman, who had 
this pope before the days of Numa, or over seven hundred years 
before Christ. Rome's founders, Romulus and Remus, were born of 
a nun, and from these old pagan Romans that church inherited its 
pope, its worship, its holy water, its vestal virgins, its spirit, its 
everything that distinguishes it from a New Testament Christian 
church. It adopted much of Christianity, but rejected the most of 
it; especially its spirit, its Scriptures as supreme authority, and its 
doctrine. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my 
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight." It is a 
kingdom of this world, and its servants fight. Its pope, in his old 
age, Avould set all the world at war to-day, had he power, for his 
earthly crown. No, no ! The Roman Church is not, in truth, a 
church of God at all, but a Roman corporation, worldly in its gov- 
ernment and in its aims. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of October 20, 1877* 

The best of men may err. 

God alone is above prayer. 

Charity is the queen of graces. 

Christ is the Savior of the body. 

Goodness is the essence of religion. 

Compromise with error is doubtful morality. 

One hair's breadth from the Word of life may be death. 

A good man without faith is better than a bad man with faith. 

Everything unreasonable is false. The trouble is to decide what 
is unreasonable — it or I ? 

Whatever you are ashamed of in your creed or your religion you 
should re-examine, and, if untrue,— which is quite probable,— you 
should give up, and cease to charge upon Christ as a part of his 
religion. 

Executive officers at the head of any church, or other institution, 
who find themselves unwilling or incapable of running it, should 
resign and get out of the way. The wheel-horses may hinder the 
wagon, block up the way, prevent advance, and ruin the country. 



4:28 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

A PERFECT CREED. 
" The law of the Lord is perfect " (Ps. 19: 7). 

Creed is not a scripture word, but one of Latin origin, from 
credo, I believe, and signifies, primarily, that in which we 
rest or trust. The word came into use in the church as the 
first form of a faith outside of the Word of God, and perhaps 
was first fixed to the symbol of faith called the Apostle's 
Creed. Since then creeds have been multiplied, and the world 
has been compelled to conform to such forms of faith as the 
ruling party forced upon it. Of the creeds of men, none are 
sure ; but every word of God is sure. The law of the Lord is 
perfect. I desire a perfect creed. Some desire numbers, some 
success, some fine temples, and some great wealth ! But all 
these things are uncertain. Where is Babylon, with her 
numbers ; or Assyria, with her wealth ; or Rome, with her 
power; or the Vandal, with his numbers? Success cannot 
certify for truth. The Catholic Church conquered the Chris- 
tian world ; Mohammed overran Christian nations ; but the 
world's best interests were with neither. Christ is the truth, 
and his word is truth. I want a perfect creed. We endeavor 
to make earthly things certain — why not heavenly things? 
We will be satisfied with nothing less than deeds signed and 
sealed by the recognized authorities for earthly possessions — 
why, then, take a less certain title to the heavenly? While 
we do not think that a man will be lost on account of una- 
voidable errors of faith, we know that he will not be lost on 
account of holding a perfect creed, and the Word of God is the 
only universally acknowledged perfect creed. Others may be 
right, but it is seldom that more than one denomination out of 
the many will acknowledge any of the dominant creeds per- 
fect. Frequently not one will assume this, but all acknowledge 
that the Bible is a perfect creed. There are creeds which are 
considered perfect which yet abound in errors. Some of these 
I will name : 

1. Dividing the divine Being. 

2. Making Jesus more than one being, and not that same 
Jesus. 



TRUE DOCTRINE 429 

3. Supposing that Christ died only for a part of man- 
kind. 

4. Teaching that unbaptized infants are lost. 

5. That God foreordains everything that comes to pass. 

6. That none can be saved unless he adopts some- human 
creed theory. 

7. That sin's reign is eternal. 

These are errors which have obtained a place in various 
creeds, some of which are otherwise comparatively true. Here 
I may include also the supposed creed of any bad man. If a 
man is unjust, cruel, wicked, false, his secret creed is so ; for 
the creed is not the Book alone, but the faith which lies hidden 
deep down in the secret recesses of the heart, and is developed 
in the daily walk of an active life. There are short forms of 
creeds which are comparatively perfect. Such is the confes- 
sion of Peter (Matt. 16 : 16, 17) : "Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God," followed by the blessing as follows : 
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, 
Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto 
thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Or that given by 
Jesus (Mark 12 : 29-31) : "Hear, Israel ; The Lord our God 
is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and 
with all thy strength : this is the first commandment. And 
the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than 
these." Or that given by St. Paul (Eph. 4 : 4-6) : "There is 
one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of 
your calling , one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and 
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you 
all." But these are only parts of the grand whole of the full 
faith of the Word of God. So in like manner to have faith 
in God and the labor for humanity ; or faith in a great, good 
work, to increase purity, truth, and happiness among men, 
may constitute a perfect creed in that sphere of usefulness. 
But he who desires an absolutely perfect creed cannot stop 
short of "the Bible, the whole Bible," as his creed. 



430 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

1. We know that the Bible is a perfect creed, because God 
gave it to us to tell us just what to believe and just what 
to do. 

2. We know that Christ approved of it. 

3. We know that the apostle said that "all scripture is 
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness : that 
the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all 
good works." And the text says, "The law of the Lord is 
perfect." 

4. We know that the Bible is a perfect creed, because the 
early, inspired Christians adopted it and no other. 

5. It confirms our faith to know that all sects and denomi- 
nations agree in the Bible as the only Christian creed. 

6. If we would not take an uncertainty for a certainty in 
earthly things, let us not in heavenly things. We should be 
careful about religion, for in the judgment it may be too late 
to rectify errors. The wise man said, "Add thou not unto his 
words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." This 
is a terrible warning. If God's Word is perfect, any change 
will render it imperfect. God's Word changed is God's word 
no longer. Joshua said, " Turn not from it to the right hand 
or to the left." 

"Be sacred truth, my son, thy guide 
Until thy dying day; 
Nor turn a finger's breadth aside 
From God's appointed way." 

And yet it is a little to be wondered at that not one of all 
the worldly creeds which we now use as a test of truth is 
capable of being set forth in the language of inspiration. What 
is the chaff to the wheat ?. saith the Lord. Let us all go back 
to the only divine standard, the divine Word, and we will 
avoid nine-tenths of the contentions of the Christian world, 
and have more time to devote to good works. The duties of 
life are many, but the articles of faith are few. Therefore we 
should diminish our creeds and increase our good works ; give 
more time to doing and less to doubting ; less to the doubtful 



MARY 431 

and more to the perfect creed. This would bring peace on 
earth and good will to men, and cause the angels to sing 
with joy. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty, October 27, 1877: 
LAW AND GOSPEL. 

Where the gospel reigns, law is not needed. — Herald of Gospel Liberty \ 
July 28. 

"We prefer to say that "where the gospel reigns," men are obedient to 
the law, at least to God's law. The gospel is God's chosen means for 
writing his law on the heart. We are astonished that the editor of the 
Herald should pen such a sentence as the one quoted above. — Sabbath 
Memorial, October, 1877. 

Will the able editor of the Memorial tell what part or item of the 
law is needed ''where the gospel reigns ? " I think it is taught in an 
old book of some repute "that the law was made for the unright- 
eous," and that saints are not under the law. Come, tell me which 
of the ten commandments is needed where all obey the gospel. Is 
the law against piracy needed in our navy ? Is the law against 
illicit distilling needed in the New York Bible Society ? Is the law 
against images needed in a Quaker meeting-house? Was the law 
against stealing needed by our Savior? Can you imagine a com- 
munity where every man is a Christian, where the gospel reigns, that 
stands in need of law ? Where all are good, and none are guilty, who 
appeals to law ? Come, Brother Jones, explain. You need not 
appeal to my beloved brother, James Summerbell, though I thank 
you for such honorable mention of his name ; but he will only appeal 
to the law for those who obey not the gospel. "Where all obey the 
gospel, the law is not needed," and I will add, "What the law could 
not do, the gospel does." In love to those who obey the law and love 
the gospel, I am, etc. 

About this time occurred the death of his daughter at Merom, Indi- 
ana. His own obituary notice was the following : 

HEATH — Mary M. Summerbell Heath, teacher of instrumental 
music in Union Christian College, died at Merom, Indiana, November 
1, 1877, aged 25 years. She leaves a daughter two weeks old. Her 
mother, Mrs. N. Summerbell, was with her some two months. Her 
father arrived on Saturday before her death on the following Thursday 
morning. Her brother, Prof. J. J. Summerbell, arrived from Mil ford, 
New Jersey, the day she died, but too late for her to see him. See other 
notices. Her faith and fortitude seemed supernatural, and she died 
amid the prayers and tears of a whole community. 

Her angel spirit, too pure for earth, 
Was released from pain to a heavenly birth; 
And her songs of praise which did here arise, 
Will be sweeter as sung in paradise. 



432 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Editorials continued : 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of November 24, 1877 : 

DOGMATIC CHRISTIANITY. 

The Herald and Presbyter says that dogmatic Christianity is not 
declining, and adduces the trials for heresy, just closed, as proof. It 
says : ' ' Take away from it merely the dogmas named by the Nation, 
— the fall, the atonement, the resurrection, and the like, — and how 
much would be left ? But if these fundamental tenets may be 
deemed gone, so that l people do not believe ' in them any longer, then 
why are not the trinity, the incarnation, regeneration, faith in Christ, 
the Savior's divinity and humanity, immortality, and all the rest 
gone, too ? for these are dogmas, and if these are gone, will anybody 
please tell us what of Christianity is left ? " It must be remembered 
that though dogma once signified a maxim, principle, etc., it is now 
generally understood to mean "sectarian opinion," and is used in 
a sense akin to the meaning of dogmatical; that is, dominating, 
magisterial, etc. The leading tenets of Christianity are not in this 
sense dogmas, but fundamental truths, admitted by all evangelical 
churches. The leading features of Christianity are : 

1. "Revelation, or God's word to the people. 

2. " One God, who so loved the world as to give his Son for- our 
salvation. 

3. "The first commandment. (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12 : 28.) 

4. ' ' Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior. 

5. "Christ's words, example, death and resurrection. 

6. " That all men are sinners, and must repent and be converted, 
and live holy lives. 

7. "All should follow Christ in purity and doing good." 

Those who follow after these things as set forth in the Bible ' ' ful- 
fill the royal law, and do well." Yet these are not of the "dogma 
family." The trials for heresy of Miller and See, do not illustrate the 
case, or reflect credit upon the ministry, as the following extracts 
will show : 

ON WOMEN. 

' The final minute of the synod on the subject of the preaching of 
women is as follows : 

" In sustaining the presbytery of Newark as against the complaint of 
Rev. E. R. Craven, D.D., and the appeal of Rev. I. M. See, the synod 
holds that the passages of scriptures referred to in the action of the 
presbytery do prohibit the fulfilling by women of the office of public 
preachers in "the regular assemblies of the church ; and while it is admit- 
ted that a different interpretation of them may be honestly held, the 
synod, notwithstanding, think that the inviting and permitting of 
women to preach at the regular public services of the church is irregular 
and unwise." 



HERESY TRIALS 4:33 



ON HOLINESS. 



On the subject of the "Higher Life," etc., the final minute of the 
synod is as follows : 

"That in declining to sustain the complaint, as lias been done by a 
vote of one hundred and ten against three, the synod, whilst expressing 
the greatest sympathy with Rev. I. M. See in his aspirations after inti- 
mate communion with God,— the highest attainments in the divine 
life,— and whilst it heartily indorses him in urging upon his people to 
aim at becoming holy, as God is holy, is nevertheless in entire accord 
with the presbytery in earnestly and affectionately reminding the 
brother that there are many dangerous errors connected with, if not, 
indeed, inherent in, the doctrine popularly known as the 'higher 
life, Christian perfection, or perfect love.' Prominent among these are 
the errors mentioned in the injunction of presbytery." 

There seems here to be much more trouble about women preach- 
ing, and opposition to Methodist views of holiness, than on dogmas. 
I admit that the case of Miller includes dogmas, but yet here the 
hierarchy may not truly echo the voice of the church, or the advanced 
stand of the leaders of thought, even in the Presbyterian Church. 
Decrees of men cannot prevent the lone, wild flower from blooming. 
How much harm human legislation in religion has done we may 
never know till we know as we are known. (I. Cor. 1:12, 13.) 

PRAYER AND SPEAKING MEETINGS. 

We want the young people as well as the aged to organize a great 
many prayer-meetings this winter. Let young men and young 
women who have gifts improve them. Occupy any opening. Cath- 
erine Cappe started the first Sunday school in the back kitchen. Jesus 
was born in a barn. Start meetings anywhere where you can gather 
help and hearers. Sometimes wonderful gifts lie hid in the young, 
that nothing will so well develop as the social meeting. Sometimes 
young people can do good where the minister Avould be powerless. 
'The manner of conducting these meetings is simple. First, be earnest 
and solemn on the way and after entering. Levity destroys the 
solemn spirit essential to success. Open promptly at the time ap- 
pointed, by singing. Read, not a chapter, but a lesson ; as, the words 
of Jesus on prayer, and on the builders, at the close of Matt. 7, or 
the prodigal son, or the foolish virgins, or part of Acts 10. or of 
Rom. 10. Then pray fervently. Let as many as will pray. Then 
exhort and confess Christ. Urge sinners to confess Christ. Remem- 
ber Christ may be found then and there by humble penitence, con- 
fession, and prayer. Do not urge too much, but close early. As a 
usual thing, hold the meeting about an hour. Close by half past 
eight, if convenient, but let it be a rule to close at nine, if forced to 

remain so late. 

OPPORTUNITY. 

It is said that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." Whether 
this be true or not, certainly God is not in want of opportunities. 



434 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

But not so with men; half the failures of life come from misim- 
proved opportunities, for which improvement there remains no more 
opportunity. Every opportunity should therefore be improved in 
doing good in some way. As winter approaches, opportunities to do 
summer work are gone ; but winter brings opportunity for the Lord's, 
harvest. Commence breaking up the fallow ground of the heart; 
begin early to sow the good seed. Remember that while you are 
waiting, souls are perishing and opportunities to win souls to Christ 
are vanishing. Let no preacher think lightly of this. Some may win 
ten, and some hundreds; all can bring some. A minister should 
strive, watch, preach, pray for souls. Try many ways. "Cast the 
net on the other side." Try new places. Remember that an ardent 
zeal is the great gift. Moody is a leader because he has sense and 
zeal. Educated men marvel at his success ; but you can do the same 
as he does in an humble way. Be humble, loving, earnest, persistent. 
If you are solemnly earnest, the people will be so. If you are careless, 
still the people will catch your spirit,' and no one will be converted. 
Depend on Christ and work, and you cannot fail. Oh, how you will 
rejoice to meet the converts up there ! To have stars in your crown ! 
Come, elders ; I, who am an elder, exhort you to seize the first and 
any opportunity to save souls this winter. ' Work, and the church 
will work with you, and, above all, God will work with you. First, 
preach anywhere that you can find hearers. Second, go from house 
to house praying. Avoid other subjects of conversation. Bend 
every energy to Christ's will and to Christ's work. Yours is a high 
calling. Honor it this winter. 

"What the Law Could not do."— Tins clause signifies the same 
as it would did it read, What law could not do. The meaning is 
that law cannot reach the heart and secure virtue. Men must be led, 
not merely driven; converted, not forced. The gospel is superior 
because it is more adapted to touch the heart, and converts the soul. 
Thus, good Sunday schools and prayer-meetings are more powerful 
in reforming men than regiments of soldiers. He that winneth souls 
is wise, and one revival minister is worth scores of policemen. Let 
the Christian minister remember that he labors for God and men, 
for this world and that to come. " Haste, and report your labors. 

Brother Summerbell : I would like to inquire if there is any scrip- 
ture example for calling preachers "Rev." Does not the apostle say, 
"The apostles and elders"? I understand this to mean the preachers 
and apostles when met in council. ( Acts 15 : 23.) Inquirer. 

P. 8.— Please answer through the Herald. 

Reply. ' ' Rev. " is a well-understood prefix to a name, and signi- 
fies that the person is a minister of the gospel. It is not a biblical 
term, but human — the same as conference, convention. Sunday 
school, Monday, committee, etc. "Rev." is often very useful, as by 



ministers' titles 435 

it in writings, books, etc., we know the ministers from others. Also 
in the directory it enables us to find a minister's name the same as 
"Dr." assists in guiding us to a physician, altough a doctor is not 
necessarily a physician, nor a minister "reverend."' 

"Elder," with the Baptists, signifies a minister, but it has no such 
general signification. With Presbyterians it signifies a layman 
ruler. Therefore, "elder" does not designate a man as a minister, 
and to say, "Married by Elder A.," etc., leaves the marriage doubt- 
ful. No such phrases as Elder Paul or Elder Peter are found in the 
Bible, but the term there simply signifies an aged person, or an 
officer. God's name is reverend, but we never call God "Rev." ; nor 
does "Rev." signify that the person is reverend, but only that he is 
a preacher. As a prefix, it is useful because it designates, and Rev. 
Paul is just as scriptural as Elder Paul. My advice is that all try to 
be as good as we can ourselves, and slow to condemn others. 

Brother Summerbekl : In your issue of November 3, I notice in 
your exegesis of Acts 2 : 3, your statement that the miraculous power of 
the Holy Spirit was conferred upon the entire one hundred and twenty 
disciples. In the first place, your statement that Luke always used the 
term "eleven," when referring to the apostles, will not hold good in all 
cases, as you will perceive by referring to Acts 1 : 2. Now, all that is 
necessary to a thorough understanding of the above passage is to find 
the antecedent of the pronoun "they," in the first and three succeeding 
verses of Acts 2, since it is evident that all who were assembled received 
the miraculous power. The inspired penman seems to hold the apostles 
prominently before us throughout the entire first two chapters, the 
parenthetical statement of the one hundred and twenty who were 
assembled at the appointment of Matthias, being explanatory of the 
condition of the cause at that time. To find the antecedent of "they'-' 
in Acts 2:1, let us read the account, omitting the modern division into 
verses. Thus: "And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon 
Matthias ; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. And when 
the day of pentecost was fully come, they w T ere all with one accord in 
one place."— A. V. It is evident that "they" in the above refers back 
to "apostles," its antecedent. Such is also the case with the three 
following verses. It, therefore, seems beyond question that the apostles 
alone are said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit, Besides, it was 
to the apostles alone that the miraculous aid of the Spirit was promised. 

W. H. Tipton. 
TJrbana, Illinois, November 5. 

Reply. Your criticism is kind, but perhaps not according to Peter, 
who said : "This is that which was spoken by the prophet ... I will 
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh : and your sons and your daugh- 
ters shall prophesy, . . . and on my servants and on my handmaidens 
I will pour out ... my Spirit." (Acts 2: 16-18.) Also, after the 
historic account, verse 14 says that Peter stood up with the eleven — 
a phrase which implies the presence of others. You must let the 
women come in as per record. ( Acts 1 : 14 ; 2 : 17, 18.) The church 
needed the Holy Ghost as" well as the apostles, and received it. 
(Acts 10: 44.) 



436 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Brother Summerbell : Will you be so kind as to give your opinion 
through the Herald on what Jesus said in John 13: 14, 15 ? " If I then, 
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash 
one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should 
do as I have done to you." The German translation says, "Ye shall 
wash one another's feet." Did Jesus want his disciples to obey him, or 
did he leave them to their own option ? If he intended this as a com- 
mand to his disciples, and binding on them, what did he mean when he 
said to them, "Teaching them [all nations] to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:20.) I am young in the 
ministry, and yet I have charge of a Christian Church, and have been 
teaching them'that feet-washing was a church ordinance, and as binding 
as any other. Have I been adding to the Word of God? I* am aware 
of the fact that we should not lord it over God's heritage. Neither 
should one brother bind another. Jesus said, "Call no man master on 
earth." But is not he our Master? And can we do our duty as his 
ministers, if we shun to declare the whole counsel of God ? I ask these 
questions for wisdom's sake. I desire the wisdom that is from above', 
that is pure and peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated ; that is, 
without partiality or hypocrisy. Wm. N. Deck. 

Bryan, Ohio. 

Reply. That Jesus taught us to wash each other's feet is undeni- 
able. He did this by both precept and example. That he established 
it as a "church ordinance" is not provable at all, yet possible. Lit- 
tle was said about the church by Jesus, nor do I think he cares at 
all when we do it, so that we do it. But I do not think that he meant 
to teach that we must force others to do it. I think that all who 
want to observe it as an ordinance should be encouraged in its observ- 
ance by the ministers, who should assist them, and that those who 
do not should retire peaceably ; or if only a few desire to observe it, 
and the majority object, they should then obey it at a private house. 
Above all, there should be no hard words, no quarrel either way. I 
have no doubt that if the word ' ; heads " was in the text instead of 
"feet," all the sects would observe it. The humiliation has much to 
do with it. Still nothing is gained by forcing it upon people. Prac- 
tice what you believe, but do not preach hobbies, nor weary by 
harping on the same string, nor impugn the motives of others. You 
are young ! God bless you with long life and a useful one. I like 
the tone of your letter. Ever retain the same kind spirit, and Jesus 
will ever love you. 

Brother Summerbele : I see by the Herald that comes to me every 
week questions and answers that are very interesting to read. I wish to 
ask you one or two. If you will answer them, you will oblige ; if not, 
cast them into the waste-basket. 

In one of the conferences in the State of Maine, in 1859, the following 
resolution was passed : 

"Resolved, That we have no fellowship with the following doctrines: 
Unitarianism, Universalism, modern Comeoutism, the doctrine of anni- 
hilation, unconscious state of the dead, restorationism, spiritualism, the 
institution of American slavery, and the unrestricted sale of intoxicating 
drinks." 



UNWISE CONFERENCE ACTION 437 

In 1860 the following resolution was passed : 

"Resolved, That it shall be the duty of the executive committee, when 
the facts shall be established that any brother belonging to this confer- 
ence, if preaching or promulgating tne doctrine commonly denominated 
'the sleepy doctrine, or unconscious state of the dead, and annihilation 
of the wicked,' to withdraw Christian fellowship from him or them, by 
publishing the same in the Herald of Gospel Liberty. V 

We know of quite a number who belong to churches, and the churches 
to the conference, that believe in the sleep of the dead; and I know 
these church members to be as good as gold. These resolutions are read 
in the conference for the first time for fifteen years, and the minister 
says, "I have no fellowship for any person that believes in that doc- 
trine," and these members go home grieved, and ask for letters of 
dismissal from their churches because the conference does not fellowship 
them ! What is best under the circumstances ? Subscriber. 

Reply. We do not like to criticise the resolutions of conference, 
because, first, they are the acts of presbytery and delegates; second, 
because we do not know all the causes which may have led to such 
resolutions. Wolves may have come in under the garb of sheep, and 
made havoc of the flock. In such case, blows may be struck un- 
wisely, but with good intent. I have never found any of our 
churches bigoted or cruel, and cannot think that they would pass 
such resolutions without great provocation. But remember that 
they are all unscriptural names, and should not be contended for. 

Unitarianism is an "ism" as well as rheumatism. 
! Universalism is but spiritual quack doctorism. 

Unconscious state contradicts Matt. 12 : 28. 

Restorationism contradicts I. Cor. 15 : 20-28, and a hundred 
texts, and gives license to continue in sin. 

Annihilation is an anti-biblical as well as an anti-philosphical 
term— a thing perhaps impossible. 

My advice to brethren is to be gentle and kind. Good persons are 
no worse for holding these "isms" than any others, unless these 
make them worse men. There are Unitarians, Universalists, sleepy 
doctrine believers, restorationists, and annihilationists in every 
sect in Christendom, and they have just as good right there as 
believers in any other "isms"; that is, except rheumatism. We 
have a right to argue, persuade, etc., but we have no right to 
denounce. But then some men thrust their hobbies in the face of 
everybody, till patience has its perfect work, and is wearied out. I 
confess, however, that we have our faults as well as others, and 
advise forbearance. Above all, we should contend for nothing but 
what is in the Bible, nor for that with a contentions spirit. Rather 
exercise ourselves in prayer, and in exhortation, and in good works. 
Quote the Scriptures for your strongest expression of faith. They 
are strong enough on all these questions. Study them, and rest in 
their form of sound words aid be satisfied. God bless you. 



438 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

111 Herald of Gospel Liberty of December 8, 1877 : 

Brother Summerbeel : Please explain, through the Herald, Eccl. 
12: 7, and you will oblige an inquiring Sabbath school. 

Monboe Perkins. 
Ionia, Michigan. 

Reply. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (Gen. 
3 : 19 ), explains the first clause, and "not able to kill the soul " (Matt. 
10: 28), but "able to destroy both soul and body in hell," explains 
the last clause. When a man dies, the body decomposes and returns 
to dust as it was before created; but the spirit does not die, but 
returns to God and to the place assigned. Even wicked spirits are 
reserved unto the judgment of the great day. I would not dictate 
to my brethren, but advise them to keep clear of all human "isms" 
and plans of men, and hold a faith that the words of the Bible will 
most plainly express. At the same time, I warn all against a domi- 
nating or persecuting spirit. Universalism is contrary to nature and 
revelation; the "sleep of the soul" cannot be harmonized with 
Matt. 10:28. 

Brother Summerbell : Does not St. Paul's argument do away with 
the law ? • * 

Reply. No! St. Paul says, "We establish it." It takes one 
higher than St. Paul to do away God's law ! Jesus, in establishing a 
priesthood, and giving the kingdom to another people, did away 
Jewish national law, which included ordinances which were against 
us, of penalties for violation of God's law of the covenant given upon 
Sinai, but God's law of right was not done away nor changed. 

Brother Summerbele : Please explain the following passages : "And 
it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and 
sought to kill him." (Ex. 4:24.) "By which also he went and 
preached unto the spirits in prison." ( I. Peter 3: 19.) 

A. L. Fergason. 

Reply. The first alludes to Moses' neglect to circumcise his chil- 
dren, for which his life was threatened by the Lord at the place where 
he lodged. The translators render it in the above modern phrase- 
ology. The verses are supposed by some to be out of place, but the 
above is the meaning. I. Peter 3: 19 signifies that Christ was not 
only in Paradise, as intimated on the cross, but preached there to 
them that had died before. (See I. Peter 4:6.) We admit, by his 
words to the dying thief, that he was there. Why not admit that he 
spake (preached) ? The prison may mean "fold," and the preaching 
was not to the lost, but to those waiting for the future glory, and 
desirous of the full knowledge of the religion of Christ among men. 

Brother Summerbell: Please explain the meaning of, "Going out 
from the presence of God." C. G. Wilcox. 

Marshall, Michigan. 



EXPOSITIONS 439 

Reply. It seems to me simply to mean being expelled from the 
blessedness of God's presence. Cain went out from the presence of 
the Lord, but those to whom you refer are driven from the glory of 
his power; that is, they are where God's presence is unknown and 
his power is unfelt. It may be in the outer darkness of space, be- 
yond the light of suns or the law of salvation. Hell is called a pit, 
abyss, bottomless. First, the door of salvation is closed^ then the 
"depart, ye cursed," is heard, then the world of darkness is entered, 
and the "without of dogs, and sorcerers, and all the wicked" is felt, 
and then the lake of fire appears, and death and hell; that is, the 
inhabitants of the grave and hades — the world of the dead — are 
cast into the lake of fire, and thus the last enemy is destroyed 
(I. Cor. 15 : 25-28), and the new heaven and the new earth appear 
in glory. We cannot conceive of persons' being beyond the presence 
of God and the glory of his power while God preserves their life, 
much more bestows upon them eternal life. 

Brother Summerbell: Please explain, through the Herald, Rev. 
11: 3, 4; also II. John 1:1. Ellen Buckner. 

Reply. God's two witnesses are Christ and the Spirit, — often 
called witnesses, — and the two who stand nearest to God and witness 
for God. Their bodies are the church and the Bible. The "sack- 
cloth" means sorrow as of death; the "time," during the dark ages; 
the "not permitting their bodies to be buried," not giving up the 
church or Bible; the "reviving" is the restoring of the Bible and 
reviving the church to spiritual life. 

II. John 1:1 signifies, "John the aged man, unto the excellent 
Kuria and her family." This excellent Ktiria is supposed to have 
been a well-known woman, and so the translators rendered her name 
Kuria ("lady"). John addresses her not as a church, but as a 
church member, saying, "I beseech thee, lady." She was, doubtless, 
one of those great women of the early church, so well known then 
as laborers in the gospel, and highly prized by John the apostle and 
presbyter, but whom the Presbyterians legislate against now. (See 
trial of Kev. See, of Hoboken, K J., then read Phil. 4:3; II. Tim. 
5:2; Rom. 16 : 1-27; and Acts 21 : 9.) 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of December 15, 1877 : 
WHAT IS LIFE? 

Our life is our opportunity to do something. It is worth to us all 
worlds, all planets, suns, moons, earth, time, eternity. Its every hour 
is a rich legacy ; its every moment more precious than costly pearls 
or precious jewels, because in each moment we may do a good as 
lasting as eternity and of like immeasurable value, as that which 
caused Jesus to leave heaven. I appeal to my dear brethren, the 



440 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Christian ministers, to prize every hour, every minute. Seek not 
the comfort of idleness, the social "chat," the easy "recline," the 
"while away in social conversation," — often unprofitable, — but, 
spend every hour in work — reading, study, prayer, writing, improve- 
ment, or in preaching. Oh, labor! Life is the opportunity which 
God gives you to win souls ! Life is the time in which Jesus expects 
you to work for him. Work for Jesus. Speak to that young man ; 
tell him about Jesus. Speak to that young woman ; tell her that she 
must meet her Savior at the "judgment seat." Speak to the families 
near you. Oh, be in earnest, for your opportunity is short! "Work 
while the day lasts," said Jesus. 

SOON GONE. 

Your life will soon be gone ; your record will soon be made ; your 
opportunity will soon be ended ! Oh, what good a man often does in 
a few dying hours ! How precious is time then ! Be it so now, and 
give to God each passing moment. Dear Brother Hawley told me 
yesterday that about one hundred were converted in his place. I hear 
this morning of a revival at Eaton. Come to the work. This winter 
may witness your last work, it may be all of life — this life — you 
have ! Oh, how precious the time ! One more soul for Jesus ! Say 
so! pray so! One more effort in our short life! one more soul for 
heaven! one more lamb saved from the wolf; one more to enjoy 
life with eternity! Once more put forth a mighty effort in God's 
name to increase your society in a better life. 

THE PASTOR. 

The duty of the pastor is similar to that of the parent. The church 
is the family, and the pastor is the guardian of its welfare. It is his 
privilege, as well as his duty, to superintend all of its interests ; per- 
sonally, if absolutely necessary. He should "attend, or in some way 
superintend, all of its meetings. Lie is the shepherd of the fold. A 
pastor who, willfully or negligently, habitually absents himself from 
the prayer-meetings should be labored with by the officers of the 
church. The good pastor, if able, will make himself useful in the 
Sunday school, and every interest of the church, the Savior, or 
humanity. Some may be unable to do this. The good pastor may 
not feel called to attend all business meetings, but he will attend 
those called church meetings that, by his pastoral care, he may guide 
the flock in peace. I have known ministers to introduce hobbies of 
their own, which they knew were offensive, and would drive prom- 
inent persons from the church. This is wrong. The pastor is 
employed to labor for the church, not against it. It may be a small 
matter to a reckless man to divide and destroy a church. He can 
move away, and thus avoid the results of evil ; but he leaves behind 
him division, contention, strife, and perhaps church ruin. By wrong 



CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY 441 

doing he may extinguish the light of Zion, close the pulpit, and leave 
a people without the gospel and souls without salvation. Therefore, 
the pastor should be meek, and peaceful, and watchful for the welfare 
of Zion. 

WERE ANCIENT MINISTERS MARRIED MEN ? 

"And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered 
into the castle, and told Paul." (Acts 23: 16.) 

Were it not for the account of the kindness shown to the great 
apostle by this child, contained in Acts 23: 16-24, we would never 
have known that St. Paul had a sister living in Jerusalem. So by 
the account of Christ's miracle in healing Peter's wife's mother, 
who lay sick of a fever, we learn that Peter was a married man, 
and sometimes took the blessed Jesus to see his family. So also by 
an incidental remark (Acts 21 : 9), we learn that others of the first 
ministers beside Peter had families, for there it is said of Philip, the 
great evangelist, that St. Paul entered into his house, and that he had 
"four daughters, . . . which did prophesy." Under these circum- 
stances, the Catholics display necessary prudence in depriving theii 
people of the Bible. How it would shock a devout Catholic to read, ' ' A 
bishop . . . must be blameless, the husband of one wife " ! (I. Tim. 
3:2.) The family may be, should be, one of the nearest earthly typen 
of heaven ; wherefore we are not surprised to find St. Paul character- 
izing as the "doctrine of devils" forbidding to marry (I. Tim. 4:3). 
Therefore, when we learn that a part of a bishop's duty is "having 
his own children in subjection" (I. Tim. 3:4), we become fully 
convinced that the ancient Christian ministers were usually married 
men, and they seem more akin to us when we read of their families, 
of Paul's "sister's son," of Peter's "wife, "of Philip's "daughters," 
and the bishop's "children." 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 5, 1878'. 

OUR CHILDREN. 

A wonderful change has come over religion. A few years 
ago nearly all preachers taught that children were born totally 
depraved, and it was not an uncommon thing to hear them 
called little serpents and devils, and to have ministers speak 
of "infants in hell." Now such language is seldom heard, and 
all enlightened sects seem to vie with each other to be foremost 
in tenderness to the little ones. Why is this? What has 
made the change? I boldly reply, The Bible ? By the sys- 
tematic study of the Bible in the Sunday schools, a new 



442 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

generation of Christians has been educated in a better knowl- 
edge of biblical truth. But few sects now preach against 
infants. 

But I commenced to note the care and tenderness of heaven 
for children. To do this, I desire, not to quote the full text, 
but the Scripture phrases concerning them. 

"I have gotten a man from the Lord." (Gen. 4 : 1.) 
"The Lord hath . . . given me this son." (Gen. 29 : 33.) 
"God . . . hath given me a son." (Gen. 30 : 6.) 
"God hath endued me with a good dowry." (Gen. 30 : 20.) 
"The Lord shall add to me another son." (Gen. 30 : 24.) 
"The children which God hath graciously given thy serv- 
ant." (Gen. 33:5.) 

"Your children, which . . . had no knowledge between 
good and evil." (Deut. 1 : 39.) 

"They shall go in." (Deut. 1 : 39.) 
"Children are an heritage of the Lord." (Ps. 127 : 3.) 
"I have asked him of the Lord." (I. Sam. 1 : 20.) 
"Children are the crown of old men." (Prov. 17 : 6.) 
"Thou shalt see thy children's children." (Ps. 102 : 6.) 
"Rachel weeping for her children." ( Jer, 31 : 15.) 
"Of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 19 : 14.) 
"Become as little children." (Matt. 18 : 3.) 
"Humble ... as this little child." (Matt. 18 : 4.) 
"Receive one such little child in my name receiveth me." 
(Matt. 18 : 5.) 

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." 
(Matt. 18 : 10.) 

"In heaven their angels do always behold the face of my 
Father." (Matt, 18 : 10.) - 

"Not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one 
of these little ones should perish." (Matt. 18 : 14.) 

"Suffer little children ... to come unto me." (Matt. 19 : 14.) 

"Forbid them not." (Matt. 19 : 14.) 

"Of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 19 : 14.) 

"He laid his hands on them." (Matt. 19 : 15.) 

"Took . . . him in his arms." (Mark 9 : 36.) 



MOSAIC LAW 443 

Matthew calls them "little children" ; Mark, "young chil- 
dren" ; and Luke, "infants." He did more than to set them 
on his knee ; he laid them against his shoulder, and with 
encircling arms, pressed the darlings to his heart. Mark says 
Jesus "took them up in his arms" ; one manuscript reads, "In 
his bosom." He blessed them. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 12, 1878: 

The Law. — Some of the ablest men in the world insist upon 
it that Christ "did away the law" of the ten commandments, 
and others deny. I propose that we postpone the argument 
fbr opportunity to answer these questions. I do not ask for 
arguments, but for the papers. Jesus says : " Think not that 
I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets : I am not come 
to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till 
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise 
pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore 
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach 
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven : 
but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be 
called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5 : 17-19.) 

St. Paul says, "Do we then make void the law through 
faith ? God forbid : yea, we establish the law." (Rom. 3 : 31.) 

Questions. What law does Jesus mean that he came not to 
destroy ? What law does he commend, us for teaching ? And 
what law was it that St. Paul did not make void, but estab- 
lished ? 

ENDLESS TORMENT. 

A discussion has just closed at Palestine, Ohio, on the ques- 
tion of "Endless Torment" What a pity that men cannot 
confine their theology to Bible statements. Surely, no one 
but a fiend would w r ish to go beyond the letter of God's law 
in advocating the future suffering of the wicked. Why then 
change the bond ? Why add to the covenant ? God says 
the wicked shall have, "after death, the judgment," and ever- 
lasting punishment, and qualifies the meaning by the words 
"everlasting destruction," "death," "perish," beyond an impass- 
able "gulf," "where the worm" that devours "dieth not," and 



4:4:4: SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the fire that consumes "is not quenched." (Isa. 66:24.) 
These thoughts were prompted by reading, in the Telescope, 
the following : 

Cannon Farrar, the distinguished author of the very popular 
" Life of Christ," has recently preached two sermons at Westminster 
Abbey, before great throngs, on eternal punishment, taking the 
ground of nescience regarding the future state of the finally impeni- 
tent. . . . Cannon Farrar declared that the texts used to support the 
orthodox view are, "in the first place, alien to the broad, unifying 
principles of scripture ; that, in the next place, they are founded on 
interpretations demonstrably groundless; and, in the third place, 
that for every one so quoted two can be adduced on the other side." 
He said, with an avowal of the most unflinching sense of responsi- 
bility, that the words "damnation," "hell," and "everlasting," should 
be deliberately erased from the English Bible as mistranslations. 
The great scholarship of Dr. Farrar will not be denied, yet there 
have been and are other scholars more distinguished who do not 
agree with him on this subject, no matter how much he egotistically 
claims u the fullest right to speak with the authority of knowledge." 
If this noted Christian writer and speaker is willing to give up his 
hope of "everlasting" happiness for the sake of denying everlasting 
punishment to those who disobey God, not many will be found to 
follow his example. 

The last remark has a shade of uncharitableness — just a 
shade. It may be possible for Dr. Farrar to correct the 
meaning of a word without giving up the hope of immor- 
tality. Dr. Farrar surely is orthodox. As for the word 
"everlasting," all the orthodox contend that it means "eter- 
nal," and that the original word aionios is translated "eternal" 
in Matt. 25 : 46. Now, if we always not onh T admit this, but 
contend for it, why blame Dr. Farrar for doing the same ? 
Yet it cannot be denied that the' word "eternal" is applied 
to things that end, as in II. Tim. 1 : 9, "world" ; Phile. 15, 
"forever"; Heb. 6:2, "eternal"; Jude 7, "eternal." But 
when qualified by the words "death," "perish," etc., these afford 
no hope of eternal life for the wicked. Their only hope is in 
the orthodox doctrine that all are immortal, and will have 
eternal life without Christ ; and that death does not mean 
death, but separation ; and that perish does not mean perish, 
but only changed. 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT 445 

There is one thing, however, that I cannot understand, and 
that is why the saints in glory will not feel for sinners in 
misery. Did not Christ feel for us ? Did not Abraham speak 
kindly to the lost rich man ? Where is the proof of want of 
feeling found ? Will we be less humane there than here ? 
Will we be so changed that we can contemplate pain without 
compassion ; that the sufferings of millions in torment will 
not trouble us ? If so, must not our very nature be changed ? 
Who would desire to have his heart so changed that the most 
intense sufferings of his wife, or son, or mother, would not 
affect him, but perhaps increase the ecstacy of his happiness? 
Now, for myself, I think that we can no more measure the 
loss of a soul than we can limit the value of salvation ; but 
unspeakable as it is, it is made sufficiently dreadful in the 
very words of Jesus. But we have no right to add -to his 
words, even to annihilate hell itself. It is not denied that 
there are words in the Bible which may mean endless suffer- 
ing. The following are some of them : 

"Everlasting punishment." (Matt. 25 : 46.) "Eternal dam- 
nation." (Mark 3 : 29.) "Tormented .' . . for ever and ever." 
(Rev. 20 : 10.) This may possibly be modified by the words 
"day and night" ; but the original reading is, "Tormented eis 
tous aionas ton aionon." "Fire that never shall be quenched." 
(Mark 9 : 43.) If the wicked are now immortal and will have 
endless life out of Christ, and if Satan is immortal and his 
kingdom endless, let the plain Scripture words be quoted and 
relied upon in this great argument. Then study the Bible, 
and decide if Christ will do what he came to do. (Dan. 9 : 24 ; 
Heb. 2 : 14 ; I. Cor. 15 : 26 ; Rev. 20 : 14.) Let us quote the 
texts and make the meaning plain by lexicons and parallel 
texts. I believe what the Bible says, and I will go no farther 
either for good or for evil. Let all who pretend to advocate 
orthodox doctrine beware of saying, "I believe in God as 
firmly as I do in the devil, and in hell as much as I do in 
heaven, and in the endless duration of one as much as the 
other." There is too much diversity, not only in the character, 
but in the Bible statement, for such loose language. Quote 



446 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

your texts and rest in the Bible statement. God, the heavenly 
Father, may not see things just as we do, and yet his way may 
be quite as orthodox as ours. 

FARRARISM. 

The Rev. Dr. Farrar, Canon of Westminster, is an English 
divine of hitherto unimpeached orthodoxy. 

Rev. Dr. Farrar represents the most advanced culture and 
class in the Church of England, and his words have weight 
with the thinking world. The sum of his expression is that — 

1. He repudiates the popular views of hell. "He first sets 
forth the popular notions of hell to be found in the early 
theologians, in Dante, in Milton, in Shakespeare, citing some 
of the most terrific passages descriptive of endless torture. 
Happily, the thoughts and hearts of men were far more gentle 
and noble than their creeds, customs, and traditions." 

2. He thinks that no one, in burying wicked friends, believes 
suffering in such a hellto be their fate. "Canon Farrar asked 
his hearers if, when they buried relatives or friends who had 
not been holy or religious, they dared consign them, even in 
their thoughts, to the unending anguish of the popular creed 
they taught ! " 

3. He could not adopt Universalism, however ! " He could 
not preach the certainty of what was called Universalism, — 
that all will finally be saved, — though that doctrine did, 
indeed, derive much support from many passages of Scripture, 
and had been held by some of the early fathers." 

4. He alludes to the growing, if not the prevailing, idea, in 
the English Church ; namely, that " the wages of sin is death " 
(Rom. 6 : 23) ; "and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
death" (Jas. 1 : 15) ; but said, "Neither could he accept the 
spreading belief in conditional immortality." 

5. Yet expressed hope only for the "vast majority." He 
said, " His hope was that the vast majority of the lost would at 
length be found." 

6. Canon Farrar asked, "If we see thi3 truth, are we to 
become orthodox liars for God by suppressing it, because those 



CHURCH MUSIC 447 

think it dangerous ? " I reply, Certainly not ; but he should 
remember that the vast majority found, and no death for that 
lost minority, leaves them to what he repudiates, namely, end- 
less torment. A doctor has no right to cauterize, if he cannot 
cure, nor to apply the knife to what he cannot accomplish. 
Mr. Reese's remark concerning the debaters, — that "one be- 
lieves a lie and the other denies the truth," — will apply equally 
to Dr. Farrar and some of his opponents. 

Questions in Brief. — Are church choirs and instrumental music 
scriptural ? If so, why are they not named in the New Testament ? 

Answer. Yes ; and they are named. Suppose I put it this way : 
Are congregational singing and reading the hymns scriptural? If 
so, why do we not read of it in the New Testament ? We read of 
the Savior and his apostles singing but once. But the command is 
to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and to do God's will as 
it is in heaven, where they have harps as well as voices. Do not 
fight the church, or others who labor for the church. One sinner or 
factious professor may destroy much good. 

PRAYER. 

The following criticism is not written for controversy, but for 
instruction : 

"The Christian is commanded to pray; the sinner never." 

The writer desires not only to say, but to prove, that sinners should 
not pray, or be prayed for. He says : 

An idea has wedged its way into the minds of our religious neighbors 
that all men have the right to pray to God. We think differently. We 
appeal to the Word of God to settle this question, feeling certain that 
the reader, whoever he may be, will abide the decision. 

The first scripture we shall notice is found in Prov. 28: 9: "He that 
turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be 
abomination." 

Very well; does this prove that his baptism would not also "be 
abomination" ? The same law which says, "Be baptized," says also, 
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you. " Of course, those who knock are not yet 
in. Was not the prodigal a sinner ? and did not Jesus represent him 
as saying, "Father, I have sinned, . . . and am no more worthy 
to be called thy son : make me as one of thy hired servants M ? Was 
Jesus the "Teacher sent from God"? and are we to learn nothing 
from his lessons ? 

First lesson. Jesus heard the prayers of sinners, while here on 
earth, in every case, and bade us remember that he is the way to God. 



448 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Second lesson. On the cross Jesus prayed for the soldiers who 
crucified him, "Father, forgive them." Would Jesus have prayed 
for these pagans, had it been wrong ? The writer says : 

Jesus prayed for that howling mob that had surrounded him while 
he was upon the cross, "Father, forgive them." That Jesus was right 
in praying is certain; that the father heard him is also certain. If God, 
had promised pardon to a guilty sinner upon the coudition of pra3 r er 
only, surely he would have forgiven the men his only Son petitioned for. 
But what are facts? Were they forgiven then? No; they were not 
forgiven until fifty days afterward, when they obeyed the command of 
Peter, which was to "repent, and be baptized every one of you in the 
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." When they did this, 
God answered the prayer of his only Son. 

The writer deceives himself. The prayer was not for the howling 
mob, some of whom may possibly have been converted at Pentecost 
(none but Jews w^ere converted there), but for the pagan working 
soldiers. It reads (Luke 23:33), "There they crucified hhn." 
Verse 34, "Said Jesus, Father, forgive them," etc.; "And they 
parted his raiment," etc. These were evidently the Roman soldiers, 
for verse 35 says, "The people stood beholding. And the rulers;" 
thus plainly distinguishing these, who were Jews, from the pagan 
soldiers who crucified him, and for whom he prayed. Consider, also, 
would Jesus pray for these sinners, were it wrong to pray for them, 
or for them to pray ? Would Jesus pray God to forgive them, if he 
knew that he would not ? Would Jesus have prayed for their par- 
don without mentioning baptism to them, if he knew that they could 
not be pardoned before baptism ? Would Jesus have prayed God to 
forgive the Jews then, if he knew that they could not be forgiven till 
they would be baptized some fifty days in the future, some of them, 
and some never ? If Jesus would and did truly pray God to forgive 
sinners at least fifty days before they were baptized, did he do right ? 
If he did do right in praying for sinners some fifty days before they 
repented, or had faith, or were baptized, should not we do well to 
follow his example, and pray for sinners fifty days or more before 
they repent, or believe, or are baptized ? If Jesus did pray God to 
forgive these sinners ( I say not pagans, but take the writer on his 
own admission), is it right for Christians to Write articles against 
praying for sinners before they repent ? What are we, then, to con- 
clude ? Why, this : that the writer is wrong, and an unsafe teacher, 
because, by his own admission, he teaches a way contrary to the 
admitted course of Him who is ' ' the w r ay, the truth, and the life. " 

We have many examples of sinners praying, and of God hearing 
their prayers, both before and after baptism. 

The first promise at Pentecost was of salvation in answer to 
prayer. (Acts 2: 21.) 

Acts 8:22, a baptized sinner is told to pray. 

Acts 9 : 6, a penitent sinner prayed, and the Lord heard him, and 



PRAYER 449 

said, "Behold, he prayeth," and "He is a chosen vessel unto me." 
(Verse 15.) 

Acts 10:2, a pagan prays, and angels are sent to tell him that his 
prayers are heard ; and the sequel shows that the Holy Ghost fell 
upon them (as it fell upon the apostles at Pentecost), and they spake 
with tongues, and magnified God. (Verses 44-46.) 

The truth is that men ought "always to pray" for "all men," and 
"everywhere." 

SERMON. 

REVIVAL SKETCH. 

" Come unto me." ( Matt. 11 : 28.) 

" All with one consent began to make excuse." ( Luke 14: 18.) 

Jesus, the great Deliverer, calls sinners unto him for salvation. 
He has for them peace, pardon, conversion, rest, grace, reconciliation 
to God, friends, home, food, eternal life ; but they all begin to make 
excuse, to which the Scriptures reply, as follows : 

1. I am good enough. "There is no man that sinneth not." 
(I. Kings 8: 46.) 

2. I have done no wrong. ' ' To him that knoweth to do good, and 
doeth it not, to him it is sin." ( Jas. 4 : IT.) 

3. God is merciful. "All the wicked will he destroy." (Ps. 
145:20.) 

4. He cannot destroy the soul. "Fear not them which kill the 
body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear him which is 
able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10 : 28.) 

5. Hell cannot destroy. "Drought and heat consume the snow 
waters : so doth the grave [hell] those which have sinned." 

6. I have too much to do. Do this: "Seek ye first the kingdom 
of God, and his .righteousness." 

7. There is time enough. ' ' In such an hour as ye think not the 
Son of man cometh." 

8. I am too young. "Those that seek me early shall find me." 

9. I am too old. "Everyone . . . that seeketh findeth." 

10. I am too great a sinner. "Though your sins be as scarlet, 
they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool." 

11. I am a backslider. "Return, ye backsliding children, and I 
will heal your backslidings." ( Jer. 3 : 22.) 

12. My sins are many. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." 

13. I can not now. "Now is the accepted time." 

14. Jesus will not receive me. "Him that cometh to me I will in 
no wise cast out." 

29 



450 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

15. How can I come? "But what saith it ? The word is nigh 
thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith, 
which we preach ; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
Lord Jesus, and shaft believe in thine heart that God hath raised him 
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believ- 
eth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto 
salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him 
shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew 
and the Greek : for the same Lord over all is rich unto aU that call 
upon him." 

DEW DROPS. 

A thought may be expressed in few words, but it takes many 
words to fill the place of thought. 

Some people hold to the Bible verbally — where the Bible 
gives the verbs they like ; when these do not suit them, they 
appeal to pope prejudice. 

If God's great punishment for sin is the hell of conscience 
(as God knows best), why not punish by that method by our 
police and criminal courts ? 

" Yes," said Deacon ; " I am willing to follow Jesus 

generally, though I think his communing with Judas has the 
look of looseness." (Luke 22 : 25.) 

"There, I told you that trinity was in the Bible," said little 
Tommy to his sister, pointing to the image of Baal in the 
popular Lesson Leaf for January 27. 

There is a literary lynching ; as, when a man writes a sharp 
thought, every dull pen begins to punch at him. 

What is the meaning of the words, " God can of these stones 
raise up children unto Abraham"? That it is nothing for 
God to create. What God desires is the moral virtues, acquired 
only by obedience. 

What proof is there that devils will ever be destroyed ? 
1. They said to Jesus, "Art thou come hither to destroy us 
before our time ? " 2. Hebrews says that Christ came to 
destroy the devil. 3. Jude says they are reserved to the judg- 
ment. 4. Christ will destroy the last enemy. 5. No Scripture 
hints that they are immortal. 6. I can see no reason for their 
living forever. 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT 451 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 19, 1878, 
THE IFS AND BUTS. 

Two of the oldest and most respectable families, in their own esti- 
mation, in the town of Going-to-be, are the Ifs and Bats. But, 
though so very respectable, it is a happy thing that, like eagles, lions, 
kings, and emperors, there are not many of them. It is said that 
two pairs of eagles will not build in the same mountain ; that two 
pairs of lions will not dwell in the same forest den ; and we all know 
that two kings cannot be crowned in the same kingdom. So with 
the Ifs and Buts; it is a happy thing that they are solitaries. It is 
a comfort, however, to know that they are among the best-hearted 
people in the world. Mr. If will sign to the church, if you will build 
it on the hill; give to a bell, if it suits him in sound (he is great on 
sound) and size. Mr. But says, "Lord, I will follow thee, but—." 
(Luke 9: 61.) The whole family are thus piously inclined. They 
would always be doing some good thing, but — . 

There is a But in almost every church. Some wonder why there 
are not more. I suppose the true reason to be this : The Lord, in his 
infinite wisdom, saw that it was best to have one in each church, 
that the willing worker might appear more beautiful by contrast, and 
only one, lest the overflow on heart -goodness should drown out the 
willing workers. 

Eternal Punishment. — Beecher and Farrar both claim to have 
been misrepresented by reports. Farrar writes: "To say, as these 
reports have done, that I denounced the doctrine of eternal punish- 
ment, or expressed the hope that the word ' eternal ' might not appear 
in the revised translation, is utter nonsense." 

Beecher- writes : " Certainly, the Bible does not hold out to the sin- 
ner a hope of future salvation, if he persists in sin here." 

He cites Ephes. 1:9, 10; Phil. 2:10; Col. 1:10, 20; Rev. 5: 
12-14, as regarded by some to imply that all may "be brought imder 
the dominion of the Father's grace, " but thinks that they may admit 
of one of the three solutions ; namely, first, "all " may mean the major- 
ity, as it certainly does in Matt. 3 : 5 ; 21 : 51 ; 25 : 46 ; II. Thess. 1:9; 
or the utterly irreclaimable may "be literally destroyed, ceasing to 
be, and so ceasing to interrupt the harmony of holiness by the dis- 
cords of sin." 

No man has the right to add to or take from the Word of God. 
What the Bible says is the truth, and one iota added to it or taken 
from it leaves it not the truth, nor a revelation, nor the word of 
God, but the word of profane pens. Jesus has said it. Let all 
remember the words. Read Matt. 10:28; 12:32; 25:46: Rev. 
22:18. 



452 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The Standard well says: ''The teaching of Jesus is but a mock- 
ery, if it does not present us two characters — the good and the evil, 
saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers; two ways — the narrow 
and the broad ; two resurrections — the resurrection of life and that 
of condemnation; two destinies — life and destruction, the paradise 
of God and the lake of fire, eternal life and eternal death." 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of January 26, 1878 : 

REVIVAL SKETCH. 

" Be zealously affected." ( Gal. 4: 18.) 

I. God works with zeal. (Isa. 9:6.) What Jesus said. (John 
2: 17.) See Rev. 3: 19. We have the example of all the ancient 
Christians. ( Acts 22:3.) 

II. The importance of the work demands zeal. 1. It is eternal 
salvation (2) of many souls from death. 3. The ardent desire of 
God. (John 3:16.) 4. Jesus loves unto death. 5. The apostles 
gave up all. 6. The rich soul desired one sent from the dead. 7. The 
lost will weep when too late. 

III. A revival is the greatest work that man can be engaged in. 
1. One soul saved is of inestimable value. 2. Many may be saved, 
if we will labor. 3. God is always ready. (Mai. 3:10.) The 
lukewarm church is reproved. (Rev. 3 : 16.) One soul as a star in 
the minister's crown will make eternity richer to him. See Jesus' 
warning. (John 9:4.) St. Paul, in I. Cor. 15:24-28, confines 
getting salvation to this life. 

HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL 

1. Examine your own heart. 

2. Pray much to God. 

3. Believe that it will come. 

4. Cultivate love of Christ. 

5. Pray for the perishing. 

6. Work with the spiritual. 

7. Let the work absorb all desire. 

8. Be sober ; earnestly avoid lightness and all worldly -mindedness. 

HQW TO STOP A REVIVAL. 

1. A revival will stop when the church believes it is going to stop. 

2. When Christians consent that it should cease. 

3. When Christians get the idea that the work will go on without 
their aid. 

4. When Christians get proud of their revival. 

5. When the church gets exhausted by labor. 

6. When Christians begin to proselyte 



QUESTIONS 453 

7. When Christians refuse to render unto the Lord according to 
the benefits received. 

8. When Christians grieve the Spirit by ceasing to depend upon it. 

9. When Christians lose the spirit of brotherly love. 

QUESTIONS IN BRIEF. 

Is baptism a command? How then can a man be saved without 
baptism? See I. John 2:4 and I. Peter 3: 21. J. W. Dunlap. 

Reply. Baptism is a command ; so is perfection. ( See Matt. 5 : 
48.) Yet, as many are saved who are not perfect, so possibly may 
some be who are not baptized. "The end [design] of the command- 
ment is charity " (I. Tim. 1 : 5), is true; yet the Quaker keeps more 
of Christ's commandments than the Baptist. I. Pet. 3 : 21 speaks of 
a u like figure 1 '; ergo, salvation by baptism is a "figure," and not 
the door to heaven. 

If the Son of God is of the same nature as the Father, will he not 
have the same attributes, and be equal with God ? J. W. Dunlap. 

Reply. No! God has no absolute equal. It fe self-evident that 
no child can possibly be born equal to its parents in age, size, or wis- 
dom; and infinite attributes can no more be created, grown, or 
communicated in their absolute, infinite fullness than there can be 
grown, or be born, or created, another infinite space or eternity. 
God is, in this respect, like other infinites — as space and eternity. 
An infinite God cannot be born, or manufactured, or grown. Always 
infinite God or never ! But Christ possesses unlimited power, and the 
fullness dwells in him, so that we may speak of these as infinite, on 
account of their unlimited fullness. Dr. Clarke (Methodist) says: 
"If Christ is the Son of God in his divine nature, the Father is of 
necessity prior, consequently superior." — Clarke Com. (Luke 1 : 35.) 

Explain I. John 1 : 9, and Titus 1 : 15. S. M. Day. 

Reply. Being born of God, even the word (of God), we have a 
divine nature averse to sin, and hate it ; therefore, if we do sin, we 
repent, and God forgives us. Titus 1:15 refers to Jewish fables and 
commandments of men (see verse 4; also Mark 7: 7), and means 
that the Christian is not bound by men, but, being pure and perfect 
in his faith, he is liberal in his charity; as, being pure himself, he 
does all with a pure motive, and is not guilty even though a Judas 
commune with him (Luke 22 : 21 ), or others abuse his charity. All 
that he does is to him pure. 

Explain Luke 16: 8, 9; also, do the Christians believe that the soul of 
Christ died on the cross? S. G. Woeley. 

Reply. 1. The lord who Jesus says commended the unjust 
steward was the steward's worldly-minded master, and not the Lord 
Jesus. The lesson is that the wicked shrewdly prepare for a future 



454 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

day of want here, and commend each other for it, and pass bankrupt 
laws, and repudiation bills, and applaud public thieves who get rich. 
Yerse 9 means, Let this be a lesson to Christians to use also their 
opportunity, as the unjust steward did his, and use their Masters 
goods (of the riches of this world), a mammon (wealth) of unright- 
eousness (verse 11, not righteousness), so as to benefit their friends 
who need ; that when Christians fail, or become poor, or die, those 
whom they have befriended may receive them gladly into the ever- 
lasting habitations of the blessed. (See Matt. 25 : 40.) 

2. The Christians believe that the soul of Christ was "sorrowful 
even unto death"; that he "poured out his soul unto death"; and 
that God made Christ's "soul an offering for sin"; but not many, if 
any, believe that his soul died. 

Will you give a brief compendium of Christian doctrine? 

N. W. Ewing, Jr. 

Reply. 1. One God. 2. Christ the Son of God (divine). 3. The 
Holy Ghost the Spirit of God. 4. The Holy Bible the word of 
God. 5. Atonement — Christ's death to redeem us to God. 6. Re- 
pentance. 7. Faith. 8. Confession, prayer, conversion, and obedi- 
ence. 9. Baptism. 10. Communion and all goodness. 11. God's 
grace. 12. Charity, mercy, faithfulness to the end. 13. The sur- 
vival of the soul at death. 14. Resurrection. 15. Judgment. 

16. Eternal blessedness. 17. The fate of the wicked, without 
promise of life. I. Cor. 15 : 23-28 precludes any time for purgatory, 
but points to an eternal, undisturbed age of blessedness for the saved. 

Harmonize your exposition of Rev. 11:3, 4 ( that the two witnesses 
are Christ and the Holy Ghost — see Herald of December 8 ) with Zech. 
1 : 14. Tell us who now reigns Lord over all. J. S. Stoeum. 

Reply. Jesus reigns over all, his own Father excepted. ( I. Cor. 
15 : 24-28.) Who are God's witnesses ? (Zech. 1 : 14.) Christ and 
the Holy Ghost. Who shut heaven? The Holy Ghost by the 
Scriptures, which are as his mouth of utterance. Who turned the 
water to blood ? The Holy Spirit, by the Bible ; that is, it foretells 
it, which is called doing it. Understand, Christ and the Spirit are 
the witnesses, and these testify by their bodies, which are the church 
and the Scriptures. 

When was the turning point between the law and the gospel? and 
what is meant by ascending up to heaven in a cloud? J. S. Stoeum. 

Reply. The law and the prophets were until John. (Luke 16: 
16.) Then the kingdom of God began, and was set up by Christ. 
(Matt. 12 : 28.) Then all laws of a Jewish national character ceased 
— sacrifice, circumcision, priests, penalties, earthly kingdom; but 
the moral law or the prophets were not done away. ( See Matt. 5 : 

17, and Dan. 9:24, 27.) 



ORGANIZING A CHURCH 455 

Was Judas to blame for betraying Christ? Christ gave the sop to 
Judas, and after the sop Satan entered Judas. Jesus then said, "That 
thou doest, do quickly." Judas then went out, and Jesus said, "Now 
is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him." ( John 13 : 31.) 

Orpha J. Morris. 

East Fairfield, Ohio. 

Beply. Yes! Judas was to blame! Jesus was the " Son of man," 
who was soon to be glorified through death, the resurrection, and a 
seat at God's right hand ; but Judas thought only of the silver, and 
betrayed Christ to death for that. Jesus' saying, "Do it quickly," 
was said as suffering ones often say, "Perform your murderous work 
quickly ! " It was not license to do it, but a hurrying him through 
with his infamous treason. 

How do Christians organize ? 

Reply. Christians of any or all denominations desiring union, and 
being willing to fellowship all Christians, and unwilling to divide the 
church, or to divide their service between God and men, meet together 
and organize on the Bible as their rule of faith and practice, in Christ 
as their only leader, and with all Christians as their brethren. 

I would like to see in the Herald the best form of church coveuant for 
heading a church book. Henry Coee. 

Bone Springs, Kansas. 

christian church covenant. 

We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do covenant and unite 
in church work on the following evangelical basis as the Christian 
Church of , : 

1. The Word of God is our creed, constitution, confession of faith, 
discipline, and only divinely authorized book of authority, and no 
commandments of men shall be permitted to come between us and 
its authority. 

2. Jesus is our divine Mediator, Savior, Prophet, Priest, and 
King, and we will permit no leader to separate us from obedience to 
him in all things. 

3. The true church includes all true followers of Jesus, and we 
will not permit any human authority, pride, prejudice, priestcraft, 
superstition, or men's sophistry to separate from us those who love 
God and give evidence of a godly life, and desire to work peacebly 
with us in the church. 

4. We promise to serve Christ faithfully, striving to surpass each 
other in charity, prayer, faith, and good works, and will labor for 
the union for which our Savior prayed. (John 17.) We will share 
equally with our brethren, according to our ability, the burdens and 
expenses of the church, and labor unitedly for the glory of God and 
the good of our fellow-men. ( Here follow the names of the first or 
charter members.) 



456 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of February 9, 1878 : 
DEATH AND HELL. 

One of the most inexcusable blunders of the age is the easy 
facility with which persons, tired of the thought of eternally 
continuing torment, adjust their faith to the fashionable pre- 
text that hell is not a place, but a condition ; not a punish- 
ment, but a misfortune ; not to destroy, but to save ; not of 
fire, but of conscience. The Bible knows nothing of such a 
hell. The hell of the Bible means punishment. It is designed 
for the devil and his angels. The wicked are cast into it. All 
whose names are not in the book of life, — they are thrust out 
from God's kingdom ; cursed on account of their crimes ; 
called "enemies" of Christ, "driven away in their wickedness," 
and cast into a lake of fire called "devouring fire" hell fire, 
eternal fire, fire which is not quenched, in which God is " able 
to destroy both soul and body" where they suffer everlasting 
punishment, even everlasting destruction, and "utterly perish" 
and are devoured and suffer the second death, and shall not see 
life ; whose end is to be burned. The new novelty of hell 
called conscience does not fill the description. The hell of the 
Bible is an evil place of bad influence, whereas the conscience 
is a good thing. Hell is prepared for the devil, but I never 
heard that the devil had any conscience. The tongue is set 
on fire of hell, but conscience quiets it ; hell destroys soul and 
body (Matt. 10: 28), but conscience destroys neither; hell is 
a place of evil, than to enter into which it were better to lose 
an eye, hand, or foot, or "to have never been born," while con- 
science is a great blessing, which it were better to lose all else 
than to be deprived of. Hell is finally to be destroyed (Rev. 
20 : 12), but conscience can never be destroyed. If conscience 
were the great punishment which God inflicts for sin, we should 
follow such a divine plan, and daily turn our criminals loose 
from police court, workhouse, and penitentiary, to be "pun- 
ished by their own conscience." Why not, if that be God's 
plan? It would save much jail expense, if nothing more. 
Those who flatter the wicked by assuring them of immortality 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT 457 

and eternal life without repentance hold out to them a delu- 
sive hope. "The wages of sin is death/' and "the soul that 
sinneth, it shall die," is the word of God. "The righteous hath 
hope in his death," and for them we "sorrow not, ... as others 
which have no hope " ; but while there is life there is hope. 
Those also deceive sinners who preach purgatory or restoration. 
No such doctrine is taught in the Bible. The Bible says, "It 
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
ment," and that judgment is an "eternal judgment,"when the 
unjust and filthy shall remain so. "He which is filthy, let 
him be filthy still." Death is the point of destiny. "Be thou 
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
He that holdeth out faithful to the end, the same shall be- 
saved. I. Cor. 15 : 24-28 leaves no time for purgatory. Read 
it carefully. 

The theorizers of restoration utilize hell, magnifying its 
fires far above the blood of Christ ; for where Christ saves his 
thousands, Satan, by his purgatory, saves his tens of thou- 
sands. On this theory Satan's empire is transformed into an 
immense camp-ground, noted for the salvation of myriads of 
myriads of souls. If there are conversions, there must be 
gospel, and the Holy Spirit, and preaching, and revivals, and 
many saints praying, and much joy, and many songs of 
praise ; and the angels in glory would need a new song for 
Satan, because of his universal salvation of those for whom 
the gospel had failed. The plea that God will be the same 
good being in the morrow of eternity that he is in the to-day 
of time is a fallacy which fails to effect salvation in any future 
to-day for the same reason as now, since it would require a 
future chance then as well as now ; and then another future 
chance, and another, on and on forever ; forever putting off 
present salvation for the future. And as the philosophy of 
this life illustrates, the longer the procrastination the less liabil- 
ity of salvation, and the harder the heart, even as the old 
sinner is less susceptible to holy impression than the child, so 
we have every reason to believe that this future hope would be 
a fallacy and delusion, and that those dying "in sin" would 



458 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

seldom repent, unless deprived of free agency. In illustration, 
we have no account of the spirits of evil repenting. So that 
purgatory is, at best, but Satan's delusion. Nothing that is 
evil is immortal. What the final state of the wicked may be 
we may not know, but this we do know : that there is no good 
thing Dromised to them. The Bible compares them to ene- 
mies to be slain, stubble to be burned, chaff to be burned up, 
trees to be cast into the fire, tares to grow only till the harvest 
(end of the world), then to be gathered into bundles to be 
burned up. There is not a text in the Bible to teach that 
Satan or any of his servants is to enjoy eternal life. Jesus 
-came to make an "end of sins," to "destroy" the devil, and 
must reign till he hath destroyed "the last enemy,'' when the 
saints shall sing, "0 death, where is thy sting? grave 
[hades, hell], where is thy victory?" 

QUESTIONS IN BRIEF. 

CHURCH ELDERS. 

Explain the difference between the ordination of a home elder in the 
church, and a minister of the gospel. Is it in accordance with God's 
Word for an elder to administer the ordinance of baptism? 

Answer. The local elder is ordained by order of the church (with- 
out conference or presbytery action), the minister officiating, and 
may administer the supper, or baptism, by order of the church, but 
not marry. He stands next to the minister in spiritual things, and 
should labor accordingly for the welfare of the church. 

HERESY. 

Explain I. Cor. 10 : 27-29, concerning eating the supper unworthily. 

William M. Rice. 
Savage, Carter County. Kentucky. 

Answer. Commence at verse 18, wifh their "divisions," and verse 
19, "heresies." These heresies, which St. Paul said must be, were 
not false doctrines, but liberty* to choose, for "heresy" signifies 
"sect," or "choice," which we are not to deprive the people of. It is 
called "damnable," because of denying the Lord (II. Pet. 2:1), and 
ranked with the "works of the flesh" (Gal. 5: 20), because of its 
abuse by "divisions"; and the heretic is "rejected" (Titus 3: 10), 
because he is a factionist. So (I. Cor. 11:21) the people came 
together, a not to eat the Lord's Supper, " but each " his own," hungry 
and drunken (verses 20, 21, 22) with irreverence and disorder, 



JUDGMENT 459 

which brought damnation ; that is, condemnation ; that is, judgment 
to punishment, probably by police. The lesson is, this choice is a 
right, and to take sides must be permitted ; but to promote party is 
a work of the flesh, and the division-maker is to be condemned ; and 
when the divisions were carried to such an excess as to be seen at the 
communion, fomented by gluttony and intoxication, as was, the case 
with some of these half -converted pagans, the communion was not the 
Lord's Supper, but a bacchanalian feast leading to arrest, punish- 
ment, debility, sickness, and sleep. 

JUDGMENT. 

Does the soul, when it leaves the body, go immediately to judgment? 

E. Buckner. 

Answer. The good and the pardoned go to paradise, their sins 
having gone to judgment before. (I. Tim. 5:24.) They are the 
"these" (Matt. 25:27) who sit with Christ to judge the world 
CI. Coi*. 6:2), and for this purpose will come with Jesus. (Jude 
14.) The "general judgment," so called, is not for Christians, but 
the nations. (Matt. 25 : 32.) 

CLEANSING. 

Explain I. Cor. 5: 11. Jane Shriver. 

Answer. Some of you were, before conversion, wicked as others 
(verse 10), but ye are washed as commanded (Isa. 1: 16) by the 
Word (Epli. 5 : 26), meaning the "washing of regeneration." (Titus 
3:5.) The real thought is to the cleansing of the soul. Parallel 
text, I. Pet. 1:2. Some apply it to baptism ; but Peter says that it 
is not putting away the filth of the flesh. My advice is, however, to 
baptize those who look for salvation in that way. 

Give the meaning of Mark 16 : 17, 18. Lydia Ford. 

Jaysville, Ohio. 

We repent and believe the gospel. This includes conversion, for 
true repentance includes a change of heart. Baptism Avas the form 
of full confession, and giving ourselves up to Christ and his cause, 
and signified dedication to the whole Christian life. The signs were 
to fottoio, not always accompany, them that believe. The promise 
is true, and were saints true believers, would more frequently be seen. 

Explain Luke 17: 34, 35. B. L. Clevenger. 

Gomer, Ohio. 

When Christ comes to judgment, the righteous shall be gathered 
by the angels, and some will be found awake and at work, and some 
in bed asleep. But whatever their Condition, the angels will gather 
the righteous ; even taking the Christian from his bed to Jesus, and 
leaving his companion to suffer. 



460 STJMMERBELL AND. WRITINGS 

Will Brother Sumerbell please answer the following questions through 
the Herald® First, who are, and what is the mission of, ministering 
spirits? Second, is capital punishment a Bible doctrine? 

W. T. Johnson. 

Reply. The ministering spirits are called angels, and their mission 
is to guide and comfort the saints. 

Capital punishment is the punishment of death. It was instituted 
in the covenant with Noah directly after the flood. God's final 
penalty for sin in all ages has been death. 

Brother Summerbell : Please explain Gen. 1 : 26 and 27 in connec- 
tion with Gen. 2: 7. The first chapter says that God created man; but 
the second says that there was not a man to till the ground. 

Reply. I suppose that Adam wrote the first account of the crea- 
tion, including the first chapter and three verses of the second 
chapter. That makes one brief account. Probably Seth wrote an 
account a little more full, including the second chapter. They both, 
give the same story, just as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell 
the story of the gospel — varied, but not contradictory; and as we do 
not understand another Jesus in Luke, so we must not understand 
another Adam in Gen. 2 : 7. 

Please explain, through the Hercdd, this scripture : "For I say unto 
you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." 

Absalom Lick. 

Reply. The words, with their connection, signify as follows: 
Think not to make natural descent a claim for baptism. God 
demands conversion. Therefore, bring forth the fruits of repentance 
in proof of a moral change ; for if only physical obedience or phys- 
ical children were required, God could create them out of their 
kindred physical things, even the hardest rocks. But this -is the 
promise: "I will put anew spirit within you; and I will take the 
stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh." 
(Ezek. 11 : 19.) "This is the covenant that I will make with them 
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, 
and in their minds will I write them." (Heb. 10 : 16.) 

1. Was Adam mortal or immortal when he came from the hands of 
the Creator ? 

Mortal. "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye 
die." (Gen. 3:3.) 

2. Is the soul or the body the seat of intelligence ? 

The spirit. "There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the 
Almighty giveth them understanding." (Job 32 : 8.) 

3. Did the spirit of Adam exist as an organized being, independent 
of, and prior to, his existence ? or was it a part of God ? 



EXPOSITIONS 461 

No ! " Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 
declare, if thou hast understanding" (Job 38: 4), signifies that man 
had no being then. He is not part of God. 

4. Did the spirit, prior to entering the body, possess intelligence? 
Does it grow, develop, and finally decay with the body? 

No ! "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill 
the soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and 
body in hell." (Matt. 10 : 28.) 

5. Did Adam's body receive the punishment for sin, or did his soul 
receive it? By answering the above questions, you will confer a favor, 
and I will be greatly obliged. Philip Wolfenbarger. 

Reply. I have appended replies to all the questions except the last. 
The answer to that is as follows : The soul and body of Adam both 
suffered ; the soul by remorse and sorrow, etc. , the body by decay, 
both in being deprived of the tree of life and being cast out of 
paradise. 

Herald, December 25 : " All dying out of the true church must suffer 
eternally in hell fire." Is this not so? James W. Huntzin gee. 

Afton, Iowa. 

Reply. Object: First, that is the statement of those who sup- 
pose their sect the only true church. Second, Christ had and has 
other sheep, not even of that fold of his in Judea when he was here. 
Third, unbaptized infants are counted as not in the true church. 
Fourth, honest heathen are counted out. Fifth, we. do not want the 
judgment before the time. Sixth, men do not now mean by eternal 
fire what it means in Jude 7. Seventh, many in the church may 
suffer (Luke 13: 28), while some will go in who do not know the 
Lord (Matt. 25 : 38 ), for servants may be there as well as sons (Luke 
15:22). 

Please explain I. Cor. 15 : 29, " Else what shall they do which are bap- 
tized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why are they then baptized 
for the dead?" R. F. Deakins. 

Fillmore, Nebraska. 

Reply. The verse refers to ourselves and our future state as dead. 
We are baptized, lt buried," and raised again, looking to our future 
dead state and resurrection. The ancient church did not baptize 
vicariously. 

Please explain Rom. 1 : 20, "For the invisible things of him from the 
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are 
without excuse." 

Reply. Verses 19 and 21 prove that they are men who clearly 
see and understand. Therefore, it means that " the invisible things" 
of the eternal power of the (theiotes) divine nature have been 



462 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

clearly seen by men ever since creation, so that men have no excuse 
for changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made 
like to corruptible man, and to birds (verse 23), as is too often done 
by men who worship God as a man and a dove, to say nothing of 
heathen images. 

Brother Summerbel:l : Have we a prophecy in the Bible referring 
to these United States ? If so, by what is it symbolized ? When the 
preacher in charge gave me the right hand of fellowship, he presented 
me with the Bible as my only rule of faith and practice, and I have 
been searching it and trying to live out its teachings. I would like your 
answer to the above ; also, what day of the week would Christ have had to 
have been crucified to fulfill the prophecy of the three days in the grave? 
Please answer through the Herald. If he was laid in the sepulchre on 
Friday night, I cannot see how that fulfills the prophecy that he should 
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Please untie 
this knot and oblige. Mrs. L. L. Holmes. 

Glenwood, Erie County, New York. 

Reply. Isa. 18 : 1 is supposed by some to allude to the American 
continent, as the maps of the two Americas have the appearance of 
the spread wings of an eagle. On dates : Jesus, to have remained in 
the grave three full days and nights, would have been buried about 
daylight Thursday morning. Friday, 6 a.m., would be one day; Sat- 
urday, at 6 a.m., two; and Sunday, at 6 a.m., three. But we know 
that he was not buried until Friday evening. Had he been buried 
Thursday morning, Sunday would have been the fourth day, as the 
Jews might number. 

Please explain through the Herald St. Luke 16:8, 9, "And the lord 
commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the 
children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of 
light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon 
of unrighteousness ; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into ever- 
lasting habitations." And oblige a seeker for truth. D. H. B. 

Paraphrase. The lord or master of that unjust steward admired 
his shrewdness in providing for the future, however he might con- 
demn his dishonesty. So it is! Men of this world are wiser in 
matters of this life than good people are in those relating to the great 
future life. Now, as you see wicked men risk their all to secure 
homes in this world, do not envy them, but use as much diligence to 
secure a home in heaven. Use your property to make eternal friends, 
that when all fails here, they may receive you. " For we know that 
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a 
building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." 

Explain Gen. 4: 15, "The Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any find- 
ing him should kill him.' 7 Who was it feared would kill Cain? 

F. J. Hyatt. 

Reply. Cain lived several hundred years, and till thousands of 
men peopled the earth, and murder became common. (See Gen. 



PROGRESS 46 3 

4:23.) Perhaps even then some younger brother or brother's son 
may have threatened him. Seth, born in place of Cain, does not 
prove that there were no others, but only that Seth was to be in the 
line for the coming Savior. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of February 16, 1878: 
THE WORLD CHANGING? 

[ A few days have witnessed the death of the great king of Italy, the 
marriage of the young king of Spain, the surrender of the last of the 
Cuban rebels, the capture of Constantinople by the Russians, and the 
death of the Pope of Rome.] 

The geography of the world is rapidly changing. Russia is work- 
ing eastward and southward. Thursday, February 7, she was 
reported at Constantinople. We record it with trembling hope, and 
think of the decay of the Ottoman Empire with hopeful fear. 
Mohammedanism was not an unmixed evil. Had it been, the Lord- 
would not have permitted it so long to extend its empire over nearly 
all Bible lands and original Christian empires. The prophet was the 
antagonist of the beast, and many found refuge from its horns 
beneath his banner. The cross was uncompromisingly cruel. The 
Crescent accepted tribute and was placated. The latter used the 
sword, the former added fire. I doubt not God permitted the cres- 
cent moon to full to provide a refuge for his saints in the night when 
Rome's creed of cruelty had appended, " Whosoever will be saved 
must thus think, or without doubt he shall perish everlastingly." 
Then Mohammedan protection was sought by the persecuted, and 
those by their enemies denounced as Arminians, Monophisites, 
Eutychites, Paulinians, Arians, Pelagians, and Jews, and all those 
who believed in the one only true Jehovah. This, perhaps, explains 
why the Hebrews and learned Unitarians prefer Turkey to Russia. 
It is true that Russia has been slow to extend toleration to Monothe- 
ists, but we hope for the best. The world moves and bigotry recedes 
before the approaching light. In any event, Turkish supremacy is 
ended. Not even as a jackal to hunt prey for the lion can its empire 
be promoted. It is well to remember now the religion of Constan- 
tinople in the fourth century. Then the great St. Sophia (holy 
wisdom), with its one hundred surrounding churches, was the 
property of those of the faith now called Arian. They were wrested 
from the Arians by Theodosius the Great, in 381 or 3S2, and given 
to the Roman Catholics, who held meetings before in a private house, 
having in all about seventy-five members. The great Prof. Stuart 
classes nearly all the anti-Nicene ''fathers" with the Arians, as he 
says, "They hold to the deity of the Son, but also believed that the 
Son was subordinate to the Father." We hope that the daj r s when 
the ugly dogmas of men dividing Christians and invoking storms of 



464 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

persecution are forever past. Should it be otherwise, not only may 
the worshipers of God pray for deliverance, but God may permit 
some future Mahomet to do the effectual work in Christian nations 
which he did among the pagans. We hope as much in the increasing 
power of Russia as in the diminishing power of Rome, and shall not 
despair till we see signs of a retrograde religious movement. We 
are living in grand and awful, perhaps fearful, times, and the heralds 
of Bible truth should awake, and, as they put the trumpet to their 
lips, take good heed what sound they give. It is time that the reign 
of bigotry in religion were ended. Enough inquisitions have been 
built, enough tyrants have tortured their fellow-men, enough saints 
have been burned. Let us try charity, liberty, and brotherly love 
awhile. 

DEATH OF THE POPE. 

Pius IX. is dead. He died Thursday, the 8th instant, at 4 : 57 p.m. 
Several other times are reported, but 4:57 seems to be the hour. 
No matter. 

The Popes of Rome, like their brothers, the Grand Lamas of 
Thibet, are of high antiquity. We read of them in the days of 
Numa, seven or eight hundred years before Christianity. Numa 
appointed a chief, Pontifex Maximus, to superintend all things con- 
nected with religion. We read of vestal virgins or nuns, not only in 
relation to the birth of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, 
but also in the days of Numa. (There also we find the sacred fire 
and holy water, and holy mother, etc.) Noble patricians and senators 
of pagan Rome were, for a long time, appointed to the office. On 
the rise of the empire, the emperors held the office. Augustus was 
pope when the divine King was born in Bethlehem. But on the 
decay of the empire, the. Bishop of Rome more and more assumed 
the prerogatives of the pagan pope, and finally succeeded largely to 
the double office of pontiff and emperor, and established, instead of 
the old imperial empire, a semi-spiritual empire over the world, the 
church being, so to speak, the ghost of the old Roman Empire — its 
pope the emperor, its cardinals the senators, its hierarchy its patri- 
cians, its " religions " its army, and its empire the world. As soon 
as possible the pope's power Was established by the sword in all 
countries, and all born were required to be baptized, and all who 
demurred were doomed to death by fire or sword. This made the 
church almost universal. The multitudes, however, did not take 
kindly to the new doctrine. None of the oldest kings, or historians, 
or nations were true Catholics. The Greeks criticised, the Arme- 
nians opposed. The "Arian" nations had to be converted by the 
sword. Theodosius the Great, a.d. 382, took from the Arians one 
hundred churches in Constantinople, and gave them to the then 
feeble Catholic Church of about seventy -five members, Multitudes 



POPERY 465 

of saints were cut off and labeled for execution under the various 
opprobrious epithets of Eutychians, Monophysites, Nestorians, Mon- 
tanists, etc. In the tenth century the eastern church bade a final 
adieu to the pope and the Roman Church on the ground of its radical 
departure from the Scriptures, the decrees of the ancient councils, 
the establishment of modern doctrines, and its unevangelical char- 
acter. 

During the long eclipse of the Sun of Righteousness, called the 
Dark Ages, the crescent moon of the Mohammedan cast some feeble 
light on the path of the persecuted pilgrims, and many a disciple of 
Jesus fled for refuge from the fires of Rome to the sword of the 
Ottomans — a horrible alternative, but one no doubt permitted for 
wise and merciful ends. 

The late deceased pope succeeded Gregory XVI., in 1846. He was 
at first a republican, and made a grand demonstration for liberty, 
but, overcome by the cardinals, he finally sank into the grooves 
prepared for him, and was run by the ring which surrounded him. 
He was, in the main, a good man; as good, perhaps, as a "pope" 
could be expected to be. It is not claimed that the popes are not 
impeccable, but only that they are infallible, and where he has gone 
leaders do not profess to know. Bishop Purcell said, in his debate 
with Campbell concerning the popes of the tenth century, that he 
did not doubt that these bad popes were suffering for their crimes in 

. The Roman Church thus holds the threat of purgatory over 

her highest officials, but, with other restorationists, promises them 
final salvation. This pope has added at least two new dogmas to the 
creed ; namely, the immaculate conception of Mary, and the infalli- 
bility of the pope, passed as late as Monday, July 21, 1870. The 
vote stood 450 for to 88 against, then 538 for to 2 against, 1,050 
not voting. Of these, I think Bishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, was 
one. If the 1,050 had dared to vote, the majority would have been 
against the dogma. 

History gives the rise of the Roman bishops to the power of popes, 
the names of the heretical popes, the debauched popes, the contempo- 
rary popes, two and three at a time. Sometimes all the popes were 
cast out and a creature of the emperor appointed in their stead, 
effectually breaking the chain. 

The present pope has had a long and eventful life. He is the two 
hundred and sixty-ninth of those now called popes. His child-name 
was Giovanni Battista Maria, Count Mastai Ferretti. He was born 
May 13, 1792, and died February 7, 1878, at 4:57 p.m. He was 
made a cardinal in 1840, and elected pope June 16, 1846. He 
was very popular at first as a leader of the Liberalists ; but when he 
changed his policy, he feared retribution, and fled from Rome, but 
was soon restored, but lost his temporal crown by a vote of the 
people October 2, 1870. Votes against the pope as king, 50,00.0; 

30 



466 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

for him, 50. Since then till his death recently Victor Emanuel 
reigned King of Italy. 

Personally, the pope was a pleasant, polite, pious, Christian man, 
of benevolent appearance, attractive ways, sympathetic nature, 
pleasing address, and many amiable qualities. No pope has published 
so many indulgences, held so many councils, made so many saints, 
established so .many bishoprics, made so many new phases of faith, 
or reigned so long. 

Farewell, Pius IX. ! Your earthly crown faded, and your earthly 
empire narrowed much during your reign. We wish you no ill, but 
hope that you may have a crown in the future that fadeth not away. 

Very few of the Russians can read. 

Some churches unwisely use water at communion instead of wine. 
They should use unfermented wine. 

The Methodist Episcopal ministers in Cincinnati, Ohio, continue 
the hell discussion at their morning meetings. Better adopt the 
Bible doctrine. 

Dr. Chapin, the distinguished Universalist, says he has labored not 
so much to get people out of hell as to get hell out of the people. 
Probably he has failed in both. 

A writer in the last Herald forgets that the apostles met in a Chris- 
tian conference (Acts 15 ), and that a conference of men has liberties 
as well as a man, and that the liberty to eject is as sacred as the 
liberty to leave. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of February 23, 1878: 

TWO NATURES OF CHRIST. 

In the last National Repository the able editor has a beautifully 
written article on our divine Savior, opening as follows : 

THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 

The word "person" expresses a somewhat indefinable, but yet a 
well-understood and quite comprehensible, idea. It is that John is 
himself and not another, and that Peter is in likewise himself, while 
both John and Peter are distinct -and individualized entities. Beyond 
this individualization of the entity, there must be in it, in order to its 
personality, a rational soul, with self-consciousness, and affection, and 
free will. Such a being may be contemplated as an intelligence objective 
to the contemplator, and capable of thought and reflection in himself; 
and he may therefore appropriate to himself the pronouns of the first 
person, singular, ego and me, and also claim as his own all the attributes 
of his being. We accordingly appropriate to Jesus Christ, in his uni- 
personality, both divine and human characteristics, each kind belonging 
alike to himself, but, in either case, by virtue of only one of the two 
distinct natures that unite in his person. Because he was God he could 
claim to be eternal, almighty, omniscient, able to forgive sin, — appointed 
to be the Judge of the world. Because he was a man we can trace him 



DIVINITY OF CHRIST 467 

from his birth (in the flesh), through infantile weakness, into youth 
and physical and intellectual manhood, increasing "in wisdom and 
stature." We see him hungering and thirsting, rejoicing and weeping, 
suffering and dying, yet all these things belong to the same person, 
because in that personality the divine and the human were conjoined. 

There is much in the article that is true, but some things are not 
clear, to which I desire to call the able editor's attention ; and, lest I 
should be misunderstood, I will explain that I and the l ' Christians, " 
with- whom I labor, are firm believers that Jesus possessed what men 
call both divine and human nature, made of the seed of David 
according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, 
according to the spirit of holiness. (Horn. 1:3.) What I question 
in the article most of all is a want of logic. The premises and con- 
clusion are as widely separated as the east is from the west. The 
article defines personality thus : "John is himself and not another," 
etc., but the article makes Jesus himself and another. For the 
writer will not deny that God, before Mary, was at least one being 
and one person ; nor that he endeavors to prove that Christ was a 
"very" man, who was also one being and one other person; or that 
one plus one equals two ; ergo, he makes Christ two beings and two 
persons, one of whom is simply a human being, a very man, stand- 
ing in the same relation to other men that the Man- Savior of the 
Socinians or low Unitarians does. Yet the editor is no Unitarian, 
but a sound, orthodox Methodist. Will Brother Curry please to 
explain ? If the orthodox ministers may define the dying Christ to 
be a very man, and worship that man, why may not the Socinians ? 
Or, if the orthodox reject from worship the man who died for them, 
how can we blame the Unitarians for doing so ? Surely, the Bible 
affords safe and consistent orthodox ground to stand upon, does it 
not ? Who can fathom the depth of error which we may plunge into 
when we leave the Bible ? 

HERALD BREATHINGS. 

Many prefer old error to new truth. 

Not man's opinions, but God's word, should be our guide in 
religion. 

"A German Baptist asked if I could find 'Rev. Paul' in the 
Bible. What do you say?" Tell him to find the chapter 
about the "German Baptists," commencing with the verse 
where "Elder Peter" commands "trine immersion," and he 
will find it full of it. 

The Christians are not affected with the wonderful worry 
about Beech er's objections to the Lord sweeping all the pagans 
into hell, as we never taught such doctrine. Our God requires 



468 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

of a man according to that which he hath, and not according 
to that which he hath not. 

Old style!. Beecher, denounced as an unbeliever, is still like 
a town clock. If he strikes wrong, all the doctors of divinity 
turn the hands of their watches ; at least, " the independent " 
ones ask their comrades how many of them still work by the 
0. S. time. 

"Are any of the Christians trinitarians?" Yes. If you 
call true faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost trinitarian- 
ism, then they are the truest trinitarians in the world. But 
the Christians adopt neither the unitarian nor the trinitarian 
theories. We are simply Christians. 

If sin is charged against us by the Lord as a debt, to be 
paid before pardon, and each sinner is responsible (as some 
teach) for all the increasing consequences of his sin, and 
therefore Adam owes for all the sins of the world, and each 
sinner of the untold millions is in turn indebted for all the 
sins growing out of his sin, who will tell us the proportion of 
the debt as compared to what it would have been had one 
person committed the sum of all the sin ? 

The way of life is a narrow way, with few who find it. The 
way to destruction is a broad way, in which the many go. 
These are truths. Now, on the theory that destruction means 
endless life, and that sin, with suffering, will be endlessly 
multiplying itself, as the wise theological mathematicians 
(Potter and McCosh) teach us, who will inform us what will 
be the relative proportion of the magnitude of joy and sorrow 
of the two kingdoms, after an early hour of the morning of 
eternity — say, after five or six hundred thousands of millions 
of billions of world ages have passed ? 

DOCTRINE. 

Brother Summerbele: Have the Christians any particular doc- 
trines? John Dicks. 

Yes! The Christians hold that — 

1. "The Lord our God is one Lord"; and that "to us there is 
but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him " ; 

and 



DOCTRINE 469 

2. "One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by 
him"; and that he is "the Christ, the Son of the living God"; 
and that 

3. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in 
one hope of your calling." And they believe that this spirit is the 
Spirit of God spoken of- first in Gen. 1 : 2. And they believe in 

4. Repentance, faith, the new birth, baptism, communion, prayer, 
holiness, charity, and faithfulness to the end. And they believe that 

5. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
ness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished 
unto all good works." And they believe in the 

6. New Testament Church and its continuance, of which Jesus 
said, " Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it." Also they believe in the resurrection of 
the dead, and life. 

7. "To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for 
glory and honour and immortality, eternal life." And they also 
believe in all the rest of the Scriptures. Every word of God is pure. 
You may read these scriptures, with their connections, as follows: 
1. Mark 12: 29; I. Cor. 8: 6. 2. I. Cor. 8:6; Matt. 16: 16; John 
10:37; Heb. 1 : 1-3. 3. Eph. 4:4. 4. Mark 1:15; Heb. 6 : 1, 2 ; 
John 3 : 3-6. 5. II. Tim. 3:16. 6. Matt. 16:18. 7. Rom. 2 : 7. 

Reply to numerous inquiries. Baptism is the immersion and 
emersion of a person. That is the only way I have ever seen by 
which a person can fill the descriptive steps plainly stated in the 
Scriptures, namely : ( 1 ) They went out ( 2 ) to the river ( 3 ) to much 
water, (4) went down into the water, (5) were buried, (6) their 
bodies washed, (7) planted together in likeness of Christ's death, 
(8) rose (risen again), (9) came up out of the water, (10) and were 
brought into the house. This is a brief of the Scripture statements. 
If any minister proposes the shorter method, let him, in the presence 
of witnesses, take these ten steps so plainly named in the Bible (with 
the proper words), and if he is only sprinkled we will make a note 
of the fact. 

The deceased pope, it is said, left over $23,000,000 in gold deposits 
— much of it coUected from the poor of America. Victor Emanuel, 
the king, died $7,000,000 in debt. 

UNITARIANS VS. TRINITARIANS. 

A brother, inadvertently perhaps, or in regard to one point, called 
the Christians Unitarians. It had, perhaps, a more stirring effect 
than to have called us Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, or Congrega- 
tionalists, and a perfect shower of replies are sent in. That is right. 



470 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." But we cannot publish 
all these articles. It would take all summer. I will insert the first 
received ; that is all. 

Many articles on this subject are unnecessary. Good men may 
and must differ about the way of wording a thought. Were there 
no Variations, we could only converse as the rural urchin with his 
echo. The Christians holding all Bible doctrine, possess all the 
truth that there is in Romanism and Protestantism, or in the Baptist 
creed, or Quaker, Unitarian, or trinitarian, and thus might, in refer- 
ence to baptism, be inadvertently called Baptists. But holding to 
the Bible alone as their creed, they cannot properly be classed with 
either, but are correctly called Christians. 

John's Gospel. — John the Evangelist speaks most of Christ's 
heavenly, and least of his earthly, history. 

John gives no account of Jesus' birth. 

No account of his youth. 

No account of his baptism. 

No account of his temptation. 

¥o account of Jesus eating of, or establishing, the communion. 
Though John's record corroborates the account given by the other 
evangelists, yet by John's Gospel we could hardly know if Jesus was 
born of Mary, or descended, full grown, from heaven. We could 
not know that he was baptized, or that he communed. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of March 2, 1878 : 

QUESTIONS IN BRIEF. 

Matt. 18 : 10. James Thomas. 

Answer. "The angels," some suppose, means their spirits; but it 
refers to their guardian angels. ' ' In heaven " signifies that the angels 
who represent them are now in heaven, and are always in the pres- 
ence of God and behold his face. 

How do you reconcile God's sovereignty with man's free agency? 

William Fretz. 
Lambertvilxe, New Jersey. 

Answer. They are reconciled.- God could not be a sovereign, if 
he could not make one man free one day, could he ? If he can make 
one man free one day, he can make all men free all days. 

Please explain through the Herald what spirits are named in Rev. 
5: 6 that are sent forth into all the earth, and what are those spirits? 

Ephraim Pierce. 

J/est Randolph, Vermont. 

Answer. Seven is a full number, and signifies completeness, the 
whole. The Savior's seven horns in the text signify fullness of 
power; the seven eyes, fullness of wisdom. All are called seven 



QUESTIONS ANSWERED 471 

spirits of God, signifying that the fullness of God's power and 
wisdom is to be exercised in all the earth by Jesus Christ to save or 

destroy. 

When was trine immersion first introduced and practiced ? 

J. Burns. 

Ansioer. It is first named by Tertullian, an African bishop, about 
two hundred years after Christ, though some say Marcion, an earlier 
heretic, practiced it. It became quite common with the Catholics in 
their zeal for the trinity in the fourth century, but died out as the 
controversy ceased. It is partially practiced yet, in baby baptism, 
by the Greeks and Russians. It has no countenance in Scripture. 

The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not in- 
herit the earth. Prov. 10 : 30. A. R Alkrie. 

Ansioer. The righteous, being built upon the rock ( Matt. 7 : 24 ; 
Eph. 2: 22; Rev. 21: 14), are not driven away like the chaff, or 
burnt up like the stubble, but will inherit the earth forever ; when 
old things are passed away, and all things are made new. 

Mark says that "Christ was asleep." ( Mark 4 : 38.) How could this 
be, if he was divine? 

Answer. We know nothing of any quality in divinity that would 
prevent his sleeping. 

Explain Heb. 7 : 3. 

Ansioer. The Scriptures give an account of one priest without 
any account of his parentage or posterity. His name was Melchiz- 
edek. You can read all that Paul knew about him in Gen. 14; 
Heb. 5:6, 7. Many think that he was Shem, the son of Noah. 

Explain Rev. 22:2. 

Ansioer. The city is the representation of the spiritual church or 
final kingdom of Christ on the earth ; the street of it means all the 
ways ; the river means all the life-refreshing influences from God ; the 
tree of life signifies the banquet which God prepares for the soul; 
the twelve manner of fruits, monthly, signify the constant supply, so 
that the inflow of grace and divine nourishment will sustain all God's 
children in the fullness of divine love, strength, and desire. What 
we eat and drink will not be to sustain physical strength, but to 
increase divine life and enjoyment. 

Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of 
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (IT. Pet. 1:21.) 
Why are men not so inspired at the present day? 

William Fretz 

Answer. They were not of old in all days, and they may be now, 
when God requires anything said; but the difference in the times 



472 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

makes a difference in the demand. They had not the Bible for their 
guide and consolation, and we have. 

St. James says that God cannot be tempted, neither tempteth he any 
man ; and we are taught that Satan is the tempter. Why are we then 
taught to pray, " Lead us not into temptation " ? 

William Fretz. 

Answer. James does not say, "God cannot be tempted," but can- 
not be tempted "with evil." See James 1: 13, "Neither tempteth 
he any man" (with evil). To tempt is to try, and in the Lord's 
prayer means, "Lead us not into places or situations which will 
dangerously try us, even though we ask it. " Many ask for success 
and prosperity, which would ruin them. 

Did not Jesus and the apostles teach the people to look for his coming 
in that generation ? D. E. 

Answer. If you mean Christ's coming in the~ flesh, as he said, 
"Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of 
man be come," I answer, Yes. If you mean his coming to take our 
spirits, as the dying Stephen saw him and said, "Lord Jesus, receive 
my spirit," as he promised (John 14 : 3), I answer, Yes. But if you 
mean coming to judge the world, I answer, No. Jesus many times 
warned the disciples against that error, saying, ' ' Be not deceived, " 
"Believe it not," "The end is not yet." (See Matt. 24: 4, 6, 23, 26, 
etc.) "Did he not say that he would come in that generation ? " No. 
He said, "This generation (or race of Jews) shall not pass, till all 
these things be fulfilled." (Matt. 24: 34.) The word "generation," 
in the Bible, is not limited to an age, but may mean a race of people. 

How deep was his feeling for the success of the Publishing House, 
and how earnest were his labors, will appear from the following personal 
remarks in the issue of March 2, 1878 : 

It will soon be four years since I, as secretary of the Publishing 
Department of the American Christian Convention, did, in order to 
warn in time, in order to save, make a fair statement of facts, show- 
ing the true financial condition "of the Publishing House. I then 
had no official relation to it, but made my report from general inter- 
est as a secretary of the general convention. Nearly three years after 
that, the truth, grudgingly credited then, was demonstrated by pro- 
tested paper and loss of credit. The trustees put their hands into 
their pockets, but their thousands sank out of sight like flakes of 
snow in a seething furnace. At their call, I consented to serve. Im- 
mediately the finances, though contracted to a narrow margin, were 
changed to a business basis. Going in debt ceased at once. With 
half the business, little of the stock, and none of the capital of former 
years, we saved in a little more than a year what, were it not for 



THE PUBLISHING INTEREST 473 

former liabilities, would be a snug little surplus of $5,000. It is 
true the people have aided, but so they always had. It is no new 
thing to give. But now the question is, Can our able men afford to 
stand by with folded hands, and see the poor carry the Publishing 
House on mites oi from three to thirty or ninety cents each, while 
the monster of interest is constantly demanding more than the poor 
churches and people can give ? I say, Can you afford it ? Can you 
answer to the Master in the coming day ? Say not, Antioch and 
failure ! We have no more failures than others. Even Antioch, 
under its "improved " management, has lost nearly as much of late 
as it ever did with us. Failure is no new thing. Since I came into 
the Publishing House a new firm sprang up, rented of us, flourished 
like the green tree, failed, passed away, and is almost forgotten. 
There are colleges, and publishing houses, and banks, and merchants 
all over our land failing every day. Nine merchants out of ten fail 
of large success. If we count the risk of loss too closely, we will 
never do anything. Our Publishing House has weathered the storm. 
It is on a firm financial and denominational basis. Nothing but 
neglect or putting in bad managers can destroy it. 

Editorials continued : 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty, March 9, 1878: 

WHAT IS CONVERSION? 

We have received a four-page pamphlet, with the above heading 
and the following request : 

Brother Summerbehl: Please explain through the Herald this 
subject, and oblige. Mrs. E. Rowe. 

extracts. 
The following extracts will show the design of the pamphlet : 

It is thought that conversion is a great change wrought by the Holy 
Spirit. 
We hear it said that people get religion, or meet with a change. 
The writer believes this to be a grave error. 

The writer then quotes Alford to prove that conversion is to "re- 
pent and turn about," and Abbott to prove that repent indicates a 
change of aim and purpose, and converted a change of direction and 
course. Now, most people will think this "a great change," conse- 
quently the writer's witnesses convict him. 

2. Next he says: "This is only a specimen of misleading trans- 
lations. Converted ought to be convert, turn." Well, what does 
that signify, while the writer admits # that he turns "not without 
divine aid " ? Therefore, the writer becomes a witness against 
himself. 



474 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

3. The writer next says: "The whole inner change, . . . usually- 
styled conversion, is represented in the New Testament by two words 
— faith and repentance." But now mark ! The writer can find no 
such phrase in the Bible as "faith and repentance." Jesus said, 
"Repent and believe the gospel" ; not, believe and repent the gospel. 
The object of the writer is to ignore repentance. He requires 
confession of faith, but not confession of repentance. He says, 
"Come at once into the church by being baptized" (page 3), contra- 
dicting Acts 2 : 47, ' ' And the Lord added to the church daily such 
as should be saved." Therefore he goes on to say, "The apostles 
never taught a theory of regeneration." In this he contradicts 
St. Paul, who taught that salvation is ' ' not by works of righteous- 
ness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by 
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
(Titus 3: 5.) 

In the conversion of St. Paul, of his praying (verse 11 ), his prayers 
being heard, and a vision (verse 12), and that he was chosen of- God 
as a minister (verse 15)* and was an acknowledged " brother, " and 
of his receiving his sight, and being filled with the Holy Ghost 
before baptism, there can be no doubt of his teaching others the 
truth. He says that he was not sent to baptize, but to turn men 
from darkness to light. 

The pamphlet says, ' ' They did not beseech God to be reconciled 
to sinners." But they did pray for "all men," and that includes 
sinners. (I. Tim. 2 : 1.) 

He says, "As soon as we are ready to yield to Christ, he is ready 
to receive us." That is true, but he teaches that Jesus will not 
receive us till we are immersed, if it takes an hour, a day, or a year, 
and therefore condemns himself. But St. Paul says, "With the 
heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth con- 
fession is made unto salvation." (Rom 10: 10.) And no man has 
a right to say that this is not true, except to the immersed. His 
texts testify against him. Acts 2:41, "They gladly received the 
word." Acts 8 : 37, " Believest with all thine heart." Mark 16 : 16, 
17, speaks of signs to follow believing. 

There are only three cases where persons desired to be, or were, 
baptized without true conversion that I recollect now. The first is 
in Matt. 3:8. And John said to them, "Bring forth therefore fruits 
meet for repentance." The second is in Acts 8 : 22-24, where when 
one wanted to buy the power of conferring the Holy Ghost, Peter said, 
"Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps 
the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that 
thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then 
answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me." The third 
is recorded in Acts 19:2, where, though baptized, some had not 
heard of any Holy Spirit; but 'they were then baptized in the name 



BAPTISM AND CONVERSION 475 

of the Lord and received the Spirit. These cases demonstrate that 
baptism without conversion is void. It is true that many explain 
conversion as something which it is not, but that does not excuse 
any man in deceiving the people by urging them into the water 
without "fruits meet for repentance" (Matt. 3:8), or the heart 
being right (Acts 8:21), or without knowing of any Holy Spirit 
(Acts 19 : 2-10). Nor do abuses of the "mourners' bench" teach us 
not to pray for sinners as Jesus did on the cross, saying, "Father, 
forgive them," or excuse us for pointing sinners away from seeking, 
as Jesus directed — Matt. 7: 7, "Ask, and it shall be, given you; seek, 
and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Of 
course, those who asked had not received, those who sought had not 
found, those who knocked were not yet in, and Jesus directed them 
to the "narrow way" to get in. Jesus teaches that God draws men 
to Christ. (John 6 : 44.) Paul teaches that we are God's workman- 
ship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. (Eph. 2 : 10.) Peter's 
first promise at Pentecost was, "Whosoever shall call on the name 
of the Lord shall be saved"; and his great promise was "remission 
of sins, and . . . the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2: 38.) The 
truth is, nothing should be done to induce unconverted sinners to be 
baptized before conversion. The Roman Church baptizes whole 
populations, but what good does it do them ? Do you answer, they 
are only sprinkled ? True, but in the Russian and Greek churches 
all are immersed. There is nothing gained in filling the church with 
baptized sinners. As to getting religion, that, like the phrase "faith 
and repentance," is not in the Bible, yet James says of one who 
"deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure reli- 
gion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the 
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspot- 
ted from the world. " ' ' That man's religion is vain. " Even the man 
had a religion. Paul speaks of "our religion" and the "Jews' 
religion." It is clear that some have religion. The only question is, 
Did they always have it, or did they "get it" ? However, we should 
not indulge in these unscriptural phrases. A man who argues against 
conversion may be excused for arguing against getting religion. The 
writer is, I hope, a good man, but unacquainted with the Scriptures. 
May Go'd bless the author and the inquirer. 

TRINE IMMERSION. 

Some time since, in reply to Brother Hoeffer, I stated that trine 
immersion arose with the doctrine of the trinity, and was adopted 
in the third and fourth centuries. This was denied by its advocates, 
and I cared not. As the advocates of that doctrine continue to urge 
it, I now present, in confirmation of my position, some arguments 
from The Church Advocate, an able orthodox journal, proving that 
trine immersion was of heretical origin : 



476 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS- 

' Trine immersion is first mentioned by Tertullian. There are authors 
that lived before Tertullian who mention baptism, but say nothing about 
three immersions. No ancient writer, to our knowledge, mentions trine 
immersion before Tertullian, who was born a.d. 160, and died a.d. 220; 
consequently wrote in the beginning of the third century. Justin Martyr 
speaks of baptism, but says nothing about trine immersion. He was 
born about A.D. 89. Irenseus and Clemens Alexandrinus, both of whom 
lived within one hundred years after the apostolic age, speak of baptism, 
but say not a word about trine immersion. In the Epistle of Barnabas, 
in the Pastor of Hennas, and in several similar documents of the same 
age, there are references to baptism, to immersion, but not to anything 
about trine immersion. But after the time of Tertullian nearly every 
author who says anything about baptism speaks of trine immersion. 
Certainly there is some significance in this fact. Why should there be 
such uniform silence about trine immersion until the opening of the 
third century, and after that such general reference to it? 

It is generally conceded that in the earliest post-apostolic age, baptism 
was administered only in the name of Jesus. (Acts 2: 38; 8: 5, 12, 16; 
19:3, 5.) 

[ Tertullian probably learned of the heretic Marcion.] 

The practice of baptizing in the name of the Lord Jesus ceased with 
the prevalence of denned trinitarian ideas. In view of this fact, the 
most natural conclusion is that trine immersion came in with those 
defined trinitarian ideas, for so far as history is concerned they coex- 
isted. 

Some of the first to baptize by trine immersion, among whom was 
Marcion and his followers, insisted on baptizing in the name of Jesus. 
These baptized one for each of the three days Christ was "in the heart 
of the earth." 

Marcionites and Valentinus and his followers held baptism in high 
esteem ( Hagenbach ). They did not belong to the church — the Catholic 
Church of that time, and Hagenbach testifies that their "mode of bap- 
tism differed from that of the Catholic Church." What was their mode 
of baptizing? Hagenbach says it was trine immersion — " the threefold 
baptism of the Marcionites." Thurman also states that Marcion, the 
leader of the Marcionites, commenced about the year a.d. 150 "to bap- 
tize the gentiles by dipping them three times." He believed in three 
deific principles, which could account for his threefold baptism. 

Not only have we the testimony of Hagenbach, who cites authorities, 
that Marcion and his followers baptized by a " mode of baptism different 
from the Catholic (or general) Church," and that it was "a threefold 
baptism"; but w T e also have evidence to show that other divisions and 
sects of the same time did not practice the threefold baptism of the Mar- 
cionites. Bishop Biveridge says, "The Monarchians, the Praxeans, and 
other heretics did not baptize by trine immersion." Here, then, we 
have single immersion testified to as being practiced before the time of 
Tertullian, and under circumstances which indicate that it was the 
original practice. And more especially so when we remember that the 
New Testament cannot be adduced as even remotely inclining to any- 
thing else than single immersion. 

In conclusion, I will only add that I am in favor of liberty and 
charity. Let those baptize three times who can do so conscientiously. 
But they should not claim apostolic precept, or persecute others. The 
proper mode is expressed in Ephesians 4 as "one baptism," and 
Romans 6 as a "burial" and "planting" in the likeness of Christ's 
death. This we follow; but in the tumbling forward there is no 
likeness of death or burial. 



OUTLOOK 



THE WORLD. 



The new king of Italy has succeeded his father without any dis- 
turbance, and will confine popery in Italy to its ecclesiastical limits. 
The new pope takes his place pacifically, and will not, perhaps, insult 
the world by calling himself a prisoner because of not being permitted 
to rule Italy contrary to the desire of the people. England has 
interfered largely with the affairs of Russia in Turkey ; but she is 
able, and it may be for the best. God knows ! As cruel as the laws 
of Turkey were, they were just compared with those of Rome ; and 
if, after all, Russia should have the power and will to control Tur- 
key, and ordain laws hi spirit like those formerly enacted by Rome, 
the worshipers of the true God might regret the extinction of an 
antagonistic power in Europe. The probability now is that the 
Turkish power will continue, but like Samson shorn of his locks — 
tributary, perhaps, to Russia, but the protege of England, who as 
heir will wait patiently for the sick man's slippers. The Turkish 
Empire in Europe and Asia embraced the grandest territory in the 
world, comprising the most magnificent portions of the old Roman 
Empire. Nothing but the great apostacy of the worldly church, 
and its unspeakable cruelty, can account for God's permitting the 
Moslem to usurp all the Bible lands from the fabled site of Eden to 
Jerusalem, Egypt and Asia Minor, and Greece. I do not doubt that 
the sword of the Prophet was the scourge of the Lord for cruel 
idolaters, and that many a Daniel was safer in the lion's den of 
Mohammed than beneath the shadow of the captured cross. This is 
certain, metaphorically speaking, that the heavens are shaken, the 
moon is waning, the stars are falling, rocks and mountains are mov- 
ing out of their places, and we hope soon to see the dead reviving. 

HERALD FLASHES. 

"Every word of God is pure/' 

The gospel has power to save. 

Prayer is coversation with God. 

Idleness is a reservoir of sin. 

No Christian desires to oppress. 

The lovers of error fear light. 

True fire burns up its own smoke. 

The gospel makes "all things new." 

Charity fears no coming conflict. 

Salvation is not by way of hell. 

Neither age nor numbers make truth. 

Faith is free from persecution or bigotiy. 

Expelling Christians is plowing backwards. 

If we need a creed, the world does not need us. 

Neither silver nor gold comes without work. 



478 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Any fraction of a circle proves it not a square. 

If dogs and cats were dead, the poor could have bread. 

Good advice, like the guide-board, points the way, but does not go. 

Our treatment of the Chinese is a sad comment upon our civil- 
ization. 

Charity's-labor-with-error is the coming metropolis; Bigotry's 
station is reached by reversing the engine. 

The only book in the Bible directed to children is Proverbs — the 
only one never read to them ; and the only creed we are commanded 
to teach is Deut. 6 : 4-7 — the one never taught. 

"The Shah of Persia has reduced the taxes of his subjects by one- 
half for the next fourteen years." Wish that they would pass some 
shahs out this way. '(Pmrter, please do not print it sharks, as we 
have enough of them now.) 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of March 16, 1878: 

Brother Summerbell : Last Wednesday evening ( February 20 ) I 
went to hear Elder Daniels, presiding elder of the United Brethren 
Church. On the Sunday evening previous he declared that those who 
did not believe the trinity were "soft heads," and "hoped that their 
hearts were as soft as their heads," etc. He accused the Christians of 
denying the divinity of Christ. He said that God shed his blood on the 
cross, and that those denying it had but a human sacrifice. We told 
him that he had misrepresented the Christians ; that they were the 
very people who did hold proper to the divinity of Jesus Christ, who 
died for us. He then stated that one of our representative men had 
denied the divinity of Christ in a debate with one Rev. Mr. McDill in 
Adams County, Ohio. We called for the name, and he gave it as 
Dr. Summerbell. This I promptly denied. I proposed to furnish a man 
to meet him, or any he could provide. He said that they had not time 
to attend to it. Please let us hear from you % F. Throckmorton. 

Bear Creek, Scioto County, Ohio. 

N. Summerbell, at the call of Elder William Pangburn, of George- 
town, Ohio, met Rev. Mr. McDill (Presbyterian), to defend the Chris- 
tians against uncharitable assaults of said McDill, made in our own 
pulpit, which he was using through our courtesy. We made many 
friends of his party. The discussion was in a Presbyterian Church, 
in a village where we had no members, consequently Summerbell put 
up at the tavern. Before the close, one of the trustees of the Pres- 
byterian Church thought that he believed just as Summerbell did, and 
took him and his daughter to his own house as their home ; and also 
a trinitarian church was offered to the Christians, if they would 
send a minister to become pastor. And it was thought by all inter- 
ested that Rev. Mr. McDill, a very able and learned man, changed his 
mind as to the good growing out of debates, mostly in consequence 
of being discouraged, and not having the time to prove his doctrine, 
and also losing some supporters. Mr. Summerbell defended Jesus' 
words, "The Lord our God is one Lord"; and Paul's words, "To 
us there is but one God, the Father," proving that Jesus is "the 



"orthodox" savior 4:79 

brightness of his [God's] glory, by whom also he made the worlds." 
Mr. McDill does not debate with the Christians any more. Mr. McDill 
denied most of his own creed ; but, then, we must be brethren and 
have charity. Brother Daniels' people are quite a liberal and God- 
loving people, and they will teach him to be more guarded in what 
he says, and they will instruct him to be more careful in the future. 
About " God's Blood." The creeds say that God has neither body 
nor parts; therefore, well-instructed trinitarians do not think that 
God died or shed his blood, but think that Jesus was one God and 
one man united, and that it was the man part that died. They can- 
not see how Jesus could say, "My God, why hast thou forsaken 
me ? " if God was hanging there bleeding and dying. They will 
correct Elder Daniels. You are correct. The Christians believe in 
a divhie Savior — a divine Son of God, who died for us on Calvary. 
The Christians are orthodox. 

I have been interested in the questions and answers on Bible topics, 
and have some questions. Please answer in the Herald. ( a ) Is there 
any place in the Bible that teaches that yeewa (gehenna ) will be annihi- 
lated or cast into the lake of fire? ( No.) ( b ) Does the Bible teach that 
adqg (hades) is the place of punishment for the wicked after the resur- 
rection and judgment? (No.) Or does it teach that it means grave? 
( No, never. ) Or does it mean the place of departed souls between death 
and the j udgment ? ( See Luke 16 : 23 ; also 23 : 43. ) 

Samuel Cummings. 

McLallen's Corners, Pennsylvania. 

JReply. There are three words translated hell in the New Testa- 
ment. One of them (hades) is once translated grave. The words 
are, namely: Tartarus, once; hades, eleven times; and gehenna, 
twelve times. 

1. Tartarus, hell where angels are imprisoned. 

; ' God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to 
hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved mito 
judgment." (II. Pet. 2:4.) 

2. Hades (hell) was, before Christ came, the first place of waiting- 
after death, where the good were in paradise, and the wicked tor- 
mented in a flame beyond an impassable gulf. Since Christ came, 
the righteous enter heaven. 

Hades (hell) is to be destroyed. 

' ' Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought 
down to hell." (Matt. 11 : 23 ; Luke 10 : 16.) 

"My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
(Matt. 16:18.) 

"The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up 
his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus 
in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy 
on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
water, and cool my tongue ; for I am tormented in this flame [ this 



480 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

place of torment J. . . . Between us and you there is a great gulf 
fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; 
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 1 ' (Luke 
16:22-26.) 

"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." "His soul was not left in 
hell, neither his [ Cnrist's ] flesh did see corruption. " ( Acts 2 : 27, 31.) 

' ' I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for 
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. 
1:18.) 

"Behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, 
and Hell followed with him." (Rev. 6 : 8.) 

"Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and 
they were judged every man according to their works. And death 
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." 
(Rev. 20:13,14.) 

"O grave [hades, hell], where is thy victory?" (I. Cor. 15: 55.) 

3. Gehenna, "hell." This word is, in the New Testament, first 
used by Jesus, and is such a terrible word that none except James 
repeated it, and he but once. It is supposed to have been named 
after the valley south of Jerusalem, where said Isaiah, "They shall 
go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have trans- 
gressed against me : for their worm shall not die, neither shall their 
fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." 
(Isa. 66:24) 

It was a place of destruction, and none cast therein had any hope 
of escape. It is a place of evil influence. 

"The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among 
our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the 
course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell." ( Jas. 3 : 6.) 

There is danger. 

"Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." 
(Matt. 5:22.) 

Better to lose eye or hand than to go there. 

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from 
thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should 
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And 
if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee : for it 
is profitable for thee that one of" thy members should perish, and not 
that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (Matt. 5 : 29, 30.) 

"Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and 
cast them from thee : it is better for thee to enter into life halt or 
maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into 
everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast 
it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, 
rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire." (Matt. IS : 8, 
9; Mark 9: 13, 44,47.) 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT 481 

Proselyting hypocrites prepare persons for it; that is, for destruc- 
tion. 

4 ; AY oe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye compass 
sea and land to make one proselyte \ and when he is made, ye make 
him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." "Ye serpents, 
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell V . 
(Matt. 23: 15, 33.) 

' ' Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 
soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body 
in hell." (Matt. 10 : 28 ; Luke 12 : 4, 5.) 

By reading the texts, you can readily see what Jesus says of those 
who are lost. 

' ' For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." 

What a great salvation ! Dear brethren, your work is not in vain 
when you "rescue the perishing." God will reward you, and they 
will bless you. 

THE SERMON A WORK. 
" Behold the lamb. " John 1 : 29. 

There is the text. How will you use it ? ( 1 ) You may improve 
it by explanation, (2) application, (3) exhortation; or you may 
build upon it as a corner-stone. But the house must be precious like 
the stone. (See Matt. 13:24-30.) How admirably Jesus framed 
his argument. To build, you have (1) description as material to 
work upon, (2) doctrine as the plan to work by, (3) words as the 
tools to work with. A sermon is a discourse. The preacher is com- 
mander of words. With these as a surveyor he lays out his grounds, 
as builder he lays his foundation, as a painter he gives the most 
beautiful views of every part. As master-builder, he selects from 
all the treasures of words the best for his purpose. As a musician, 
he makes all harmonious. He will have his evidence of Scripture 
witnesses, his illustrations by figures seen in nature, his colors by 
antithesis in argument, his reliefs by passing quickly from darkness 
to light, from judgment to mercy. As an orator, he will not confine 
himself to rules, but speak freely, fluently, yet with clearness and 
precision. Work on sermons; write them out; arrange and re-ar- 
range. Prepare for the pulpit, or keep out of it ; but when there, do 
not rest hi reading, yet read what is necessary boldly. Remember 
the books, especially the parchments (II. Tim. 4: 13). 

HEADS OF A SERMON. 
"Jesus wept." John 10: 35. 

1. Jesus described. (Isa. 53.) 

2. Wept three times. (Luke 19 ; Heb. 5.) 

31 



482 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

3. Tears prove sympathy. (Heb. 10: 17, IS.) 

4. Not merely human. (John 1 : 14.) 

5. But heavenly. (Phil. 2 : 5-9.) 

6. Those who weep are now comforted. (Luke (J : 21.) 

7. Not always so. (Luke 13 : 28.) 

8. How escape. (Rev. 7:17.) 

In Herald of Gospel IAberty of March 23, 1878: 

HEAVEN. 

Heaven is the "home of the soul." There is its Father's 
house, and the home of the pure, most of whom never knew 
sin. It is the name of the eternal abode of the angels. The 
"highest, brightest mansion of the sky" poets call "the man- 
sion of the deity." The Bible, however, calls this the 
"heaven of heavens," just as God is called the God of gods, 
(angels), and Jesus is called the Lord of lords. The Bible 
speaks of three heavens. Mohammed reckoned them seven. 
We care not how many, so that none limit them in bound- 
ary. The native inhabitants of heaven are sometimes called 
gods, but their common name denotes their work. They are, 
therefore, called angels. They are indigenous to heaven, its 
native inhabitants. Its old inhabitants ! Its citizens ! The 
chief angels comprise the nobility of the heavenly country, 
but there is no aristocracy, for God hath not to angels put in 
subjection the world to come. But they are ministering, serv- 
ing spirits, whose delight through unmeasured duration will 
be to make saints happy. 

Heaven is free from temptation, every influence being to 
delight the soul with good. The extent of heaven will be as- 
immeasurable as its duration is unending. The life there is 
life eternal, and the inhabitants all immortal. Heaven will 
have the new earth for a colony, and the colony will be a part 
of the celestial empire- — one of the mansions in Our Father's 
great house. There all the good will meet, and all the inno- 
cent. There Jesus will have gathered his wheat as into a. 
garner ; there the trees which bear good fruit will nourish ; 
there the righteous shall shine ; there those "not against him" 
shall be gathered ; there the penitent prodigal shall find sew- 



HEAVEN 483 

ants to rejoice at his coming ; there the saints, washed and 
made white in the blood of the Lamb, shall appear in white 
robes, and with palms in their hands, and everlasting joy upon 
their heads. And these shall reign with Christ. There in the 
multitude of mansions every one will find a place adapted to 
his wants who is included in any of the wonderful promises, 
or who can in any way be a blessing to the society there. 
The saved will have many degrees. For as "There is one 
glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another 
glory of the stars : for one star differeth from another star in 
glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." Jesus speaks 
of the least in the kingdom as well as the greatest in the king- 
dom, of some who reign, and of others who serve. The poet 
says, "Order is heaven's first law, and, this confessed, some are, 
and must be, greater than the rest." Lazarus was satisfied 
when in Abraham's bosom without aspiring to be as great as 
Abraham. But every cup of joy will be full, and every one 
there will occupy the place to which he is adapted, and where 
he can find the most joy, and be most useful. Heaven, with 
its unending joys, its presence of God, Jesus, the angels and 
all the good ; its celestial world, which, with adamantine walls, 
will bar out all evil ; its immortality, eternal life, is what is 
offered as a "reward" to those who believe and obey Jesus. 
But "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that 
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination," or "dogs, 
and sorcerers, whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, 
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie," "and shall begin to 
smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the 
drunken," or sins unto death. See the record : I. John 5 : 
11, 12, 16. 

Brother Summerbell. : My dear father was one who preached for 
nearly thirty years in the Christian faith, and died (comparatively a 
young man ) in the same faith. We attend a Baptist Church, as I think 
that nearest the Christian. Dr. D. Bridgman was pastor, but he has 
now left for Madison Avenue Church, New York. I desire to ask two 
questions. Why are the Jews called wicked for the crucifixion of Christ 
when we read he was sent on earth for that purpose, to redeem sinners? 

It is twenty-eight years since I have heard a Christian minister preach 
or seen the face of one. Mrs. R. P. Lewis. 

Albany, New York. 



484 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Comment. Twenty-eight years since you have heard a Christian 
minister does not account for this question so fully as the full state- 
ment of whom you have heard ! 

Reply. The Jews are called wicked because they were so. They 
murdered the Savior. To do this under legal sanctions, they brought 
false witnesses and were guilty of perjury. They charged him with 
crimes of which they knew him to be innocent. They had no good 
design. God's overruling it to good does not excuse them. Suppose 
that one thousand men had conspired to overthrow this governhient, 
slay all their opposers, and make Hayes king! Suppose that he 
knew that his death alone could avert the evil, and that if he objected 
they would slay him! Now, suppose that he should make this all 
known to his cabinet, and then with officers enter the place of the 
conspirators, denounce their treason, and exhort them to be true 
men ! Some would be won, others would slay him ; but the country 
would be aroused, and the tide of treason be turned, and the murder- 
ers, instead of becoming popular, as they hoped, become infamous ! 
Could you ask, "Why are the murderers blamed for killing, when 
lie went to their secret den for that purpose? " Christ's purpose, too, 
was multiform, his death being only a means to the infinite blessings. 
No, no! were it not. for the wickedness of the wicked, Jesus need 
not to have died; and their slaying him only renders them the more 
infamous. 

If you lived in a place where there was no Christian Church, and your 
belief was purely with Christians, with what church would you make 
your home? 

Answer. I would have Christian preaching in my house. If I 
failed, I would have my name in the most available Christian Church, 
assist it, and visit it as often as convenient, and at other times attend 
such churches as I desired to near my home. 

We are claiming the dear old Christian name. We have no regular 
pastor, but meet every two weeks, and I preach as far as I am able. We 
have had two conversions. Is it proper for me to receive members and 
baptize ? 

0. McFaddin. 

Answer. By a vote of the church you may receive members, bap- 
tize, and administer the communion. But I would not do it if I 
could get an ordained minister to do it, as the converts, if they con- 
tinue faithful, may have doubts of the validity of their baptism. A 
layman may receive members with the consent of the church ; for it 
is the church that they join, and not the minister. The church may 
appoint whom it pleases to administer the supper. The virtue of the 
communion is not in the one administering, but in the partaking 
of it. 



CATHOLIC FASTINGS 485 

CATHOLIC FASTINGS. 

While Protestants have no times appointed for fasting, and make 
no show to parade it, obeying the Savior, who said: "When thou 
fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not 
unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret ; and thy 
Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly, 1 ' (Matt. 6: 
17, 18,) Catholics publish their fasts in the common papers. They 
are not the fasts required in Isaiah 58:6: "Is not this the fast that 
I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy 
burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every 
yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring 
the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, 
that thou cover him; and that thou hide thyself from thine own 
flesh? " or fasts from drunkenness. This the bishop does not com- 
mand, but only begs such an unhoped-for fast as that. Here follow 
the regulations by Bishop Purcell : 

1. All the faithful who have completed their twenty-first year are, 
unless legitimately dispensed, bound to observe the fast of lent. 

2. They are to make only one meal a day, excepting Sunday. 

3. The meal allowed on fast days is not to be taken till about noon. 

4. At that meal, if on any day permission should be granted for eat- 
ing flesh, both flesh and fish should not be used at the same time. 

5. A small refreshment, commonly called a collation, is allowed in 
the evening; no general rule as to the quantity of food permitted at this 
time is or can be made. But the practice of the most regular Christians 
is never to let it exceed the fourth part of an ordinary meal. 

6. The quality of food allowed at a collation is, in this diocese, bread, 
butter, eggs, cheese, milk, all kinds of fruits, salad, vegetables, and cold 
fish. 

7. General usage has made it lawful to take in the morning some 
warm liquid, as tea, coffee, or thin chocolate and a cracker. 

8. Necessity and custom have authorized the use of lard instead of 
butter, in preparing fish, vegetables, etc. 

9. The following persons are exempted from the obligation of fasting: 
Young persons under twenty-one years of age, the sick, nursing women, 
those who are obliged to do hard labor, all who, through weakness, can- 
not fast without prejudice to their health. 

10. By dispensation, the use of flesh meat will be allowed at any 
time on Sunday, and once a day on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, 
and Saturdays, with the exception of the second and last Saturdays 
of Lent. 

11. Persons dispensed from the obligation of fasting on account of 
tender or advanced age (sixty years), or hard labor, are not bound by 
the restriction of using meat only at one meal on days on which its use 
is granted by dispensation. Those dispensed from the fast for other 
causes, as well as those who are obliged to fast, are permitted to use meat 
only at one meal. 

We recommend that on Good Friday the faithful abstain from the use 
of milk, butter, and eggs. 

We earnestly beg those who have made themselves the victims of 
intemperance, to begin with lent a sober and pious life, and to show a 
spirit of true repentance by a pledge of total abstinence. 

By order of the archbishop. 

J. F. Oallaghan, Secretary. 



486 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

We all know that it is strong drink, and not eating potatoes or 
beef, that injures the Catholics. The New York Herald says one 
may feast like a king and keep within the rules. It says of the 
Catholic who has a good cook : 

If he opens with "blue points" on the half-shell, follows with pea 
soup, proceeds to broiled split mackerel with a squeeze of lemon, touches 
on lobster timbales, or oyster patties, moves on to macaroui with cheese, 
cruuches a succuleut salad of ineffable dressing, approaches, with becom- 
ing respect, a lordly striped bass, decorated with smelts, turns lightly to 
green peas, potatoes tickled with parsley, or celery tipped with salt, 
passes by the road of pastry and water ices to his coffee, meanwhile 
lubricating with white and red wines, and a glass or so of rich Burgundy, 
we think, on the whole, he is not to be pitied as he imagines the curling 
smoke of his cigar into votive incense. Many a heathen, without posi- 
tive convictions on the necessity of fasting' here to avoid a roasting here- 
after, would sit down without a regret to such a lenten discipline of his 
coarse, fleshy appetites. 

"THE PLAGUE IN THE HEAD." 

This loathsome disease is not peculiar to preachers, but when it 
does break out in them, it is peculiarity disgusting. It is symbolized 
by appearing in the "forehead a white running sore." (Lev. 13: 
44.) The head signifies religion; the top of the head devotion, the 
forehead intellect; the sore was leprosy, an emblem of sin and super- 
stition; its redness, anger, typified spiritual pride and pharisaical 
wrath, developing in boasting and persecution. It sometimes causes 
expressions of agony, which, to the uninformed, would denote spir- 
itual pride. It affects the eyes, making them blind to the virtues of 
neighbors ; but magnifies our own virtues doubled and multiplied. It 
sets a priest to boasting and villifying others, and from morning to 
night moaning, " I am holier than thou art." It is said that, like the 
leprosy of old, it is incurable, and that when it appears the sufferer 
never learns any thing afterward. Beware of the plague in the 
head — of boasting. 

"WORLD TO COME." 

Examples of Seeking Salvation After Death. 

Jesus' Testimony. 

"Said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he 
said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate : for many, I say 
unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." (Luke 13: 
23, 24.) 

" Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before 
my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 10 : 33.) 

"I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: 
whither I go, ye cannot come." ( John 8:21.) 

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophe- 
sied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT 487 

name have done many wonderful works ? And then will I profess 
unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work in- 
iquity." (Matt. 7:22, 23.) 

"When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man 
which had not on a wedding garment : and he saith unto him, Friend, 
how earnest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he 
was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand 
and foot, . . . and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are 
chosen." (Matt. 22 : 11-14.) 

"And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our 
lamps are gone out. While they went to buy, the bridegroom came ; 
and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage : and the 
door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying. Lord, 
Lord, open to us ! But he answered and said, Yerily I say unto you, 
I know you not." (Matt. 25 : 8, 10, 11.) 

"When once the Master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to 
the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, 
saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he. shall answer and say unto 
you, I know you not whence ye are : then ye shall begin to say, We 
liave eaten and, drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our 
streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are ; 
depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and 
Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you your- 
selves thrust out." (Luke 13 : 25-28.) 

' ' He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he which is filthy, 
let him be filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." (Rev. 22 : 11.) 

"And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and 
•said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he 
may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue : for I am 
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that 
thou in thy lifetime, receivedest thy good things, and likewise Laza- 
rus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf 
fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot; 
neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." (Luke 
16:23-26.) 

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is ihe 
second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of 
life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20 : 14, 15.) 

' 'And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and 
this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that 
hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I. John 5:11, 12.) 



488 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into 
his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. . . . For he 
spake in a certain place ... If they shall enter into my rest. . . . 
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so 
long a time; as it is said, To day, if ye will hear his voice, harden 
not your hearts. . . . Let us labour to enter into that rest, lest any 
man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Heb. 4: 1-11.) 

"If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and 
the sinner appear ? " (I Peter 4:18.) 

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ; which at the 
first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by 
them that heard him." (Heb. 2: 3.) "For what shall it profit a 
man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or 
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? " (Mark 8 : 36.) 

Inspired Reasonings. 

' He that despised Moses' law, died without mercy imder two or 
three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall 
he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, 
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanc- 
tified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of 
grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto 
me, I will recompense, saith the Lord." (Heb. 10 : 28-30.) 

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have 
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy 
Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the 
world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto 
repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, 
and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the 
rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them 
by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God ; but that which 
beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; whose 
end is to be burned. " ( Heb. 6:4-8.) 

" But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, 
speak evil of the things that they understand not ; and shall utterly 
perish in their own corruption. " (II. Peter 2 : 12.) 

"But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." (Mark 
3:29.) 

"There is a sin unto death : I do not say that he shall pray for it." 
(I. John 5: 16.) 

" There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy." ( Jas. 
4:12.) 

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the 
soul ; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body 
in hell." (Matt. 10:28.) 



EXPOSITIONS 



489 



Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God; . . . 
as Esau, who for one morsel of meat, sold his birthright. For ye 
know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the bless- 
ing, he was rejected : for he found no place of repentance, though he 
sought it carefully with tears." (Heb. 12 : 15-17.) 

' ' For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge 
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall 
devour the adversaries." (Heb. 10 : 26, 27.) 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of April 6, 1878 : 

I am under the impression that somewhere in the Bible there is a 
passage similar to this, namely: "No murderer can enter the kingdom 
of heaven." After considerable search and a failure to find it, I have 
concluded to appeal to you to know if I am right, and if so, to refer me 
to book, chapter, and verse. D. S. Vanpeet. 

"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that 
no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." (I. John 3:15; see= 
also Rev. 21 : 8 and Gal. 5 : 21.) 

Brother Summerbell : Please explain Isa. 45: 7, "I form the light, 
and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all 
these things." 

Nettle Creek, Indiana, March 21, 1878. 

The Lord was speaking to Cyrus, the pagan, concerning a war for 
the fall of Babylon, to which the Lord was guiding him, and assured 
him that he (the Lord) was governing in all these things, so that. 
Cyrus might see the hand of the Lord in all the victories or reverses. 
The evil does not mean moral evil, but misfortunes of battle. 

And Amos 3:6, 7, "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the 
people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath 
not done it ? Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his 
secret unto his servants the prophets." 

This signifies the same as Isa. 45 : 7, only the evil was in the chas- 
tisement of Israel. The evil was chastisement by war, famine, etc. 
But God is not the author or promoter of sin. See Matt. 13:28, "Ail 
enemy hath done this," and compare verses 25 and 39 with Jer. 7: 
31, "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the 
valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters 
in the fire ; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my 
heart." 

Does Rev. 3: 14, "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true 
witness, the beginning of the creation of God," teach that Christ is a 
created being ? T. M. Richardson. 

Ansioer. St. Paul says, "The image of the invisible God, the 
firstborn of every creature." (Col. 1 : 15.) The original is the same- 
as the translation, except that in Colossians it might be translated 



490 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"firstborn of all creation." Most sects believe that the Word was 
made flesh — made of a woman, and both God and man. Now, if he 
was not always God and man, but was made so, and, as to make is to 
create, they thus at least make Christ a creature. But the Christians 
cannot regard Christ as a creature in any ordinary sense of that 
"term, but as divine in nature, and the intermediate creator, by whom 
God made all things. Read Heb. 1:2. 

Do the Scriptures teach that there is to be a temporal millenium before 
the second coming of Christ? If so, please give chapter and verse, and 
oblige. E. C. Teter. 

Answer. The word ' ' millenium " is from mille ( Latin ) , and means 
"a thousand years." (Rev. 20 : 4.) The name denotes the name to 
"be _pos£-apostolic, belonging not to the Greek, but the Latin age. The 
Catholic Bible comment is: "Thousand years — whole time of the 
"New Testament — toward the end of the world. * Souls of martyrs 
and saints live and reign with Christ in heaven, in a first resurrec- 
tion, which is that of the soul to the lif e in glory ; as the second 
resurrection will be that of the body at the day of general judgment." 

Protestants regard it as a day to come, when Christianity will have 
become more general, respected, and powerful ; when the spirit of the 
martyrs (first Christians) will be revived and may be resurrected ; 
when Satan — to be finally destroyed (Heb. 2 : 14) — will be confined, 
and Christianity will triumph, and the following prophecies be 
fulfilled: 

"In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 
22:18.) 

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of 
the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and 
shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. 
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he 
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths : for out of 
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusa- 
lem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many 
people : and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their 
spears into pruninghooks : nation shall not lift up sword against 
nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isa. 2:2-4.) 
"Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the 
Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved : as it is written, 
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away 
ungodliness from Jacob." (Rom. 11 : 25, 26.) "And they shall not 
teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, 
Know the Lord : for all shall know me, from the least to the great- 
est." (Heb. 8:11.) 

But I. Cor. 15 : 24-28 refers to times of the end. 



THE CHRISTIANS 491 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of April 13, 1878 : 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

One of the grandest facts of the present age is the re-appear- 
ance of the primitive Christian Church in America. Seemingly 
without any adequate cause, certainly without any precon- 
certed plans, confessedly without any human author, there 
appeared, as if by magic, in a moment molding itself into 
form, east, west, north, south, a religious body, differing from 
anything known in its age or country, yet developing in 
itself, in the midst of the most adverse circumstances, the 
great principles and highest conceptions of truth and beauty, 
of the inward heart-hope of the good of all ages, in forms of 
symmetrical beauty and grand proportions, and surrounding 
itself with such a halo of glory as could hardly be realized as 
real. Its coming was like the rising of the morning sun, or a 
column suddenly appearing amid surrounding ruins, or as 
stone cut out of the mountain without hands. The effect upon 
the people was recorded in the new forms of expression ; as 
"Newlight," denoting an idea of supernatural influence; 
"Freemen," as realizing an unexpected liberty ; "Union," de- 
noting the feeling of universal Christian brotherhood. And 
the small body did not grasp, but seemed to hold in a moment 
the great things which the good had been praying for all down 
along the ages. For twelve hundred years there had been no 
organized sect or body of people occupying the heavenly posi- 
tion of the first followers of Jesus ; none bearing the name 
"Christian," holding only to the Bible, extending communion 
to all saints, or followers of Jesus as its only leader. These 
things were talked about, and longed for, and prayed for, but 
as something belonging to the remote past when Jesus was 
here, or to the far-distant future when he comes again ; but 
now they seemed present in a moment — as it were, "a nation 
born in a day." The opposition immediately manifested was 
not so much to the principles, but to the supposed Utopian 
theory of establishing such a heavenly church in the unheav- 
enly society of depraved humanity. Solemn prophecies were 



492 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

uttered by good men that in "ten" or "twenty" years no such 
church would exist ; and in many places these predictions 
made such impressions that the prophecies were sealed up and 
placed away in Bibles and church-books, to be opened at the 
time predicted. And all along, in the early period of its 
existence, able ministers would come boldly forward, looking 
for the whole world to be converted to the truth ; but, disap- 
pointed, turn again to their former pulpits, expecting soon to 
see an end of the great reform ; then, after waiting years, some 
even returned again to labor to the end in the church of their 
choice, which, without the triumph at first expected, continued 
not only to exist, but, with mysterious power, continued to 
assimilate to itself the most adverse elements of 

UNITY IN DIVERSITY. 

One of the strangest features was its wonderful Bible power 
of transformation. The Spirit-moved bodies from the Baptists 
in New England, the Methodists in North Carolina, and the 
Presbyterians in Kentucky, on coming into union, felt not 
required to give up their former views, but only adopted the 
great fundamental principles of Christ's religion, as Christ, and 
the name Christian, and Bible, and .union. Had the Baptists 
of New England been required to give up immersion, or the 
Methodists of North Carolina sprinkling, or the Presbyterians 
of Kentucky been forced to immerse, they would have long 
stood trembling on the brink, and would have finally turned 
away. The divine power by which Jesus is able even to 
subdue all things unto himself soon molded them all into one 
uniform body. By taking tlie Bible for their absolute guide, 
they were by the Spirit compelled not only to submit to the 
Scripture statement alone, but to demand that alone of others. 
This, while it divested of all error, developed so much more 
the beauty of truth. The Baptist continued baptism without 
its exclusiveness ; the Presbyterian went into the water with- 
out becoming a Baptist ; and the Methodist fellowshiped both 
without becoming Calvinist. And soon the most conflicting 



THE CHRISTIANS 493 

elements were harmonized in the one body of Christ, without 
human command, plan, force, or fear, but by the words of 
Christ, which are spirit and life. 

Thus in a few years the Christians presented to the world 
the anomaly of a church made up of ministers from all 
denominations, receiving each other without- any human test 
of fellowship, yet soon presenting on all the vexed questions 
of scholastic theology a uniformity of faith almost unknown 
under the most arbitrary denominational formulas. I may 
here be permitted to state of the Christian ministers that, 
while few or none have contended for the tri-personal trinity, 
not one was ever known to adopt the humanitarian theory, but 
all were jealous for the glory of Jesus, and held the doctrine of 
the Father, Son, and Spirit, commonly called trinity in the 
true evangelical meaning of the Scripture statement ; so, also, 
they have believed all Biblical doctrine. They retained the 
baptism, without close communion ; election, without Calvin- 
ism ; a full atonement, without Universalism ; and the ancient 
church, without Catholicism ; and to-day present in their 
untrammeled pulpits the purest Biblical faith and the most 
perfect harmony in work of any denomination in Christendom, 
not excepting the Catholics. If they have controversy, it is 
because there is life and toleration. The inhabitants of grave- 
yards never disagree. Inanimate matter cannot think, and 
therefore can never present diversity of opinion. Slaves silently 
obey, and dare not contend with their master ; but in the 
ministry of Jesus we find abundant tolerance, and the great 
apostle not only straightly commends every one to be "fully 
persuaded in his own mind," but charges the strong to "bear 
the infirmities of the weak." No other church in the world 
ever so mingled in wholesome measure the blessings of ortho- 
dox truth and evangelical toleration. Her city has twelve 
gates, but the church has only one door. The atonement is 
for "all," but only those submitting to God are chosen. 

Sometimes the conservative brother is alarmed at the sup- 
posed latitudinarianism of the speculative brother. One will 
say, "We will fellowship every follower of Jesus," and say it 



494 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

so as to include "Catholic" or "humanitarian"; and the 
faithful watchman will for a moment imagine swarms of 
adverse elements rushing in torrents through the open church 
door. He, in his faithful care, forgets the " narrow way " of the 
Bible which all must come through, or the "strait gate" of love 
to God and man in which they are to be brought, or the divine 
"Door," Jesus himself, through which they must enter. It is 
enough to say that no unconverted "Catholic" or "humanita- 
rian" ever has, or ever will in this world seek to enter the 
Christian Church. Jesus makes the invitation very broad. 
His is, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
The Christian is the pre-millenium church, and its great 
mission is certain of accomplishment. The principles which 
she at first alone advocated are now becoming common to all 
advanced thinkers. The leading periodicals of the day vie 
with us in Biblical statements. May God guide and bless 
every one of them. Still the Christian Church, as the first in 
the great Biblical reform, has, and must hold, the pioneer 
place. She is founded not on liberalism, but built upon the 
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief corner-stone. On her foundation are the 
names, not only of the Lord, but the twelve apostles of the 
Lamb. Her walls are of living stones, — not the wood, hay, 
and stubble, but the gold, silver, and precious stones, — God's 
own jewels. Her gates are scripture pearls, and all her walls 
salvation. I love her God, her Savior, her doctrine, her creed, 
and her principles, and desire to work in her as the vineyard 
of the Lord, and to die in her as the closest approach to the 
gates ajar and the open door to paradise. 

The Christian Church of "America was born in the great 
revival of religion at the beginning of the present century, 
and all the first ministers, east, west, and south, were able 
revival preachers. The following action of the ministers of 
Kentucky, who came fresh from the great Cane Ridge revival 
(the greatest that was ever in America), and full of the love 
of God and the love of souls, may be read with pleasure and 
with profit : 



EFFECT OF CANE RIDGE REVIVAL 495 

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF SPRINGFIELD 
PRESBYTERY. 

Presbytery of Springfield, sitting at Cane Ridge, Bourbon County, 
Kentucky, being, through a gracious Providence, in more than ordinary 
bodily health, growing in strength and size daily, etc. ; but knowing 
that it is appointed for all delegated bodies once to die, and considering 
that the life of every such body is very uncertain, do make and ordain 
this our last will and testament. 

Imprimis. We will that this body die, be dissolved, and sink into 
union with the body of Christ at large; for there is but one body, and 
one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling. 

Item. We will that our name of distinction, with its reverend title, 
be forgotten; that there be but one Lord over God's heritage, and his 
name one. 

Item. We will that our power of making laws for the government of 
the church, and executing them by delegated authority, forever cease; 
that the people may have free course to the Bible, and adopt the law of 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 

Item. We will that candidates for the gospel ministry henceforth 
study the Holy Scriptures with fervent prayer. 

Item. We will that the Church of Christ resume her native right of 
internal government, etc. 

Item. We will that each particular church, as a body, actuated by the 
same spirit, choose her own preacher, and support him by a free-will 
offering. 

Item. We will that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only 
sure guide to heaven, and as many as are offended with other books 
which stand in competition with it may cast them into the fire, if they 
choose ; for it is better to enter into life having one book, than having 
many to be cast into hell. 

Item. We will that preachers and people cultivate a spirit of mutual 
forbearance, pray more, and dispute less. 

Item. We will that our weak brethren who may have been wishing 
to make this presbytery their king, and wot not what is now become of 
it, betake themselves to the Rock of Ages, and follow Jesus Christ for 
the future. 

Item. We will that all our sister bodies read their Bibles carefully, 
that they may see their fate there determined, and prepare for death, 
before it is too late. 

Springfield Presbytery, June 28, 1804, L. S. 

Robert Marshall, 
John Dunlavy, 
Richard McNemar, 
B. W. Stone, 
John Thompson, 
David Purviance, 

Witnesses. 



496 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

THE FATE OF THE HEATHEN. 

There is much discussion now upon the fate of those who have 
never heard tlie gospel. It is needless. God "will render to every 
man according to his deeds : to them who by patient continuance in 
well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life. 
. . . For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature 
the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law 
unto themselves : which shew the work of the law written in their 
hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the 
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.' 1 (Rom. 2 : 6-15.) 
1 ; For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that 
a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." (II. Cor. 8 : 12.) 
Sodom was a pagan city; but said Jesus, "It shall be more tolerable 
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than 
for" some who have heard him. (Matt. 10 : 15.) 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of April 20, 1878 : 
THE HOLY FAMILY. 

I do not mean the holy family in heaven, but the one on earth. 
*'Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and 
his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his 
sisters, are they not all with us?" (Matt. 13:55, 56, and Mark 
6:3.) 

This was the questioning of unbelievers, but that was the holy 
family. Even in heaven there seems a family. Three names are 
exalted far above — immeasurably above — all others. These are 
God, and the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit. Whatever may be 
the varied opinions of men, no believers rank either of these in the 
plane of inferior beings, and few deny that they form a celestial 
family of equality in their nature, high above the highest angels — 
so high that in theology they are -called "three persons in the one 
God-head," or God -nature. As we thus find a holy family in heaven, 
so is there to be seen a "holy family" on earth — one family exalted 
above all others, on account of relationship. As the three names 
in heaven are exalted by the divine relation to the divine Father, 
so is the family on earth exalted by relation to the divine Son. 

It is understood that some claim that Mary had no children except 
her ' ' first-born, " and that the other children were her nephews. But 
that opinion is liable to the following objections : First, there is no 
Scriptural authority to show that Mary had not several children; 
second, several Scriptures affirm that Jesus was her first-born, and 
name other children; third, the cousins, whom it is claimed they 
were, have an entirely different character and locality, and, where 
otherwise, both families are distinctly named, For illustration, see 



THE HOLY FAMILY 497 

.John 7:5, where, while the cousins were apostles, the brethren, as 
unbelievers, opposed Jesus; and Acts 1 : 13 names the cousins, while 
verse 14 mentions the brethren, proving, with Matt. 13: 55, and 
Mark 6:3, that the cousins (who were apostles) were not these 
brethren. It is, therefore, certain that there were brothers and sis- 
ters. We will, therefore, consider : 

THE EARTHLY FAMILY. 

Joseph, the husband of Mary. 

Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

Jesus, the first-born son of Mary. 

James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, the Lord's brothers. (Acts 1 : 14.) 

And his sisters — two or more. 

Joseph was about twenty years old when betrothed to Mary, and 
is noted as a just man. He obeyed the Spirit of God, and was a 
true and good husband to Mary. When Herod threatened the life of 
the child, he took the infant Jesus, with his mother, and fled to Egypt, 
whence, after Herod's death, he returned and dwelt with him in 
Nazareth, and took the mother and the child with him twelve years 
after to Jerusalem. 

Joseph was the son of Heli, and, like Mary, a descendant of the 
royal family of David. He was just, merciful, and continent, but 
-only related to Jesus by law. Joseph is not mentioned after the 
scene at the temple. He was not at the wedding in Galilee, with the 
family subsequently, nor at the cross, where Jesus provided for Mary 
by giving her to John. He was a Hebrew, a descendant of kings, 
but is most honored in having the care of the infant Jesus. 

Mary was a pure virgin of great reputation, highly favored of 
the Lord — by heaven's decree forever blessed. She was espoused to 
Joseph when but sixteen, and highly honored as the mother of her 
Lord. In her was fulfilled the word of the Lord concerning the 
41 seed of the woman." God said to the serpent (Gen. 3:15): 
"It [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head." This seed is 
Christ, who is distinguished as the seed of the woman, because God 
thus restores the woman, and makes her more than conqueror, by 
bringing the Savior without the intervention of man. Mary was 
highly favored of God ; honored by angelic visits and heavenly salu- 
tations ; honored by Elizabeth, her cousin ; by the wise men ; by her 
husband; by Simeon, the prophet; by Anna, the prophetess; and 
shall be honored by all nations. She was especially honored by her 
Son and Savior. She with her cousin Elizabeth are the first inspired 
persons who appear in the New Testament. Thus, in Mary, Eve 
conquers her adversary; and the woman, first eating the forbidden 
fruit without her husband, is first in the great salvation, and brings 
the Savior of all without her husband. Our blame for Eve is buried 
deep under blessings on Mary. Mary was the first to whom heaven 



498 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

revealed the Savior ; the first to know him as the Son of God ; the 
first to know his miraculous power ; and, therefore, the first to exer- 
cise the new faith. It is not recorded that Jesus at any time called 
her his mother, or betrayed the human, tender sympathy of a son 
for her. He called her simply "woman." Yet he tenderly cared for 
her in his deepest agony on the cross. The reason why Jesus showed 
no more deference for Mary was that she possessed no commensurate 
importance with her Son; yet, as the medium by which he became 
mortal, the people would be too much inclined to worship her. She 
was in the early ages honored with a place in the trinity, and is now 
worshiped as a deity in the Catholic Church. 

Jesus, the first-born, was the Son of Mary, known as the Lord, by 
Elizabeth and by the angels before he was born. " Whence is this to 
me," said Elizabeth "that the mother of my Lord should come to me? " 
(Luke 1:43.) And John the Baptist, yet unborn, worshiped his 
coming Lord. Of the wonderful union of the spirit and flesh, I need 
say nothing here, as it is the theme of thousands of sermons weekly. 
He was born of Mary, not that he might exist ( he existed as a spirit 
before), but that he might, as one of us, become our Captain and 
Conqueror — Our Savior and King. Josephus the Jew says, "About 
this time lived Jesus, a wise man — if, indeed, we may call him a 
man." Mahomet, though he calls Christians infidels, yet honored 
Christ as a true prophet, superior to himself, and says that those will 
be condemned who reject him. Jesus, as a perfect example to all 
sons, was not only subject to the Great Father in heaven, but to 
Joseph and Mary. What a wonderful example ! So he was known 
as one of the family. And the Jews, astonished at his greatness, 
said, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of 
James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters 
here with us? " It is more than probable, therefore, that he stooped 
to work in the shop, thus to give greater dignity to labor. His life is 
recorded by the evangelists, and by heaven. 

Besides Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, there were seven children in the 
holy family, namely: four brothers — James, Joses, Juda, and Simon 
— and three sisters. I say three sisters, as Matt. 13:56 seems to 
imply at least three sisters, namely: "His sisters, are they not all 
with us? " Of one they would have said, "Is not she with us? " Of 
two, "Are they not both with us? " Only when more than two would 
they say all. Yet it is possible the word all may refer to the family. 
If so, there were still six brothers and sisters, not including Jesus. 
These brothers were not among the first converts, but are all included 
in the praying army before Pentecost. The eldest was James, after- 
wards called "James, the Lord's brother," the apostle most noted of 
all for piety. There were three Jameses : 

1. James and John, the sons of Zebedee and Salome. This 
James was one of the three favored apostles named ' ' Peter, James, 



THE HOLY FAMILY 499 

and John." This is the James who was early executed. See the 
record of his death in Acts 12:2. 

2. James the less. This was the son of Cleopas, also called 
Alpheus. This Cleopas- Alpheus was a brother of Joseph, and his 
wife was also called Mary. "Mary the mother of James the less." 
(Mark 15:40.) Consequently, James the son of Alpheus was the 
"James the less," who survived the James slain. (Acts 12 : 2.) 

3. But there is another James, the greatest of all. (John 7: 5.) 
He is one of the brethren, yet an Israelite unbeliever, but converted 
subsequently, and among the praying ones (Acts 1 : 15), though not 
yet an apostle. (Acts 1:13). The following Scriptures name this 
James: To him Peter reported (Acts 12: 17) after being delivered 
from prison. This James presided at the council. (Acts 15 : 13-19.) 
To him St. Paul reported. (Gal. 1:19.) He says, "Other of the 
apostles saw 1 none, save James the Lord's brother." In Gal. 2: 
9, he ranks before Peter as one of the pillars of the church. In Acts 
21 : 18, St. Paul reports to this James, and obeys him. He is called 
"James the Lord's brother," and is known in profane history as 
" James the just." It is said that he was holy from his birth; that 
he never shaved ; that he wore only linen. His knees were calloused 
from constant prayer, and his reputation was such that many attrib- 
uted the destruction of Jerusalem to retribution for the murder of 
this James. He was bishop, or chief apostle, and seems never to 
have left Jerusalem. He is noticed largely and with wonderful rev- 
erence by the historians, Josephus, Hegesippus, and Eusebius. He 
is counted the first bishop of Jerusalem, and Simon, his brother, the 
second. The following is Milner's testimony. He calls him the other 
James. He says: 

MARTYRDOM OF JAMES THE JUST: A. D. 62. 

The other James was preserved in Judea to a much later period. His 
martyrdom took place about the year 62 ; and his epistle was published 
a little before his death. As he always resided at Jerusalem, and was 
providentially preserved through various persecutions he had an oppor- 
tunity of overcoming enmity itself, and abating prejudice in some meas- 
ure. The name of Just was generally given him on account of his 
singular innocence and integrity. And, as he conformed to Jewish 
customs with more than occasional regularity, he was by no means so 
odious in the eyes of his unbelieving countrymen, as the apostle of the 
gentiles. But we are to observe that, if he had fully overcome their 
enmity, he could not have been faithful to his Lord and Master. The 
priests seeing that converts were added to the church by his labors, ex- 
ample, and authority, they endeavored to entangle him, by persuading 
. him to mount a pinnacle of the temple, and to speak to the people 
assembled at the time of the Passover, against Christianity. James 
being placed aloft, delivered a frank confession of Jesus; and declared 
that he was then sitting at the right hand of power, and that he would 
come in the clouds of heaven. Upon this, Ananias and the rulers were 
highly incensed. To disgrace his character was their first intention; 
they failed. To murder his person was their next attempt ; and this was 
of much more easy execution. Crying out that Justus himself was 



500 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

seduced, they threw the apostle down, and stoned him. He had strength 
to fall on his knees, and pray, "I beseech thee, Lord God and Father, 
for them ; for they know not what they do." One of the priests, moved 
with the scene, cried out, "Cease; what do you mean? This just man 
is praying for you." A person present with a fuller's club beat out his 
brains, and completed his martyrdom. 

Very remarkable is the acknowledgment of Josephus. " These things 
( meaning the miseries of the Jews from the Romans ) happened to them 
by way of revenging the death of James the Just, the brother of Jesus, 
whom they call Christ. For the Jews slew him, though a very just 



man 



V 



After the death of James and desolation of Jerusalem, the apostles 
and disciples of our Lord, of whom many were yet alive, gathered them- 
selves together with our Lord's kinsmen, to appoint a pastor of* the 
church of Jerusalem in the room of James. The election fell on Sim- 
eon, tbe son of that Cleopas, mentioned by St. Luke as one of the two 
who went to Emmaus, and who was the brother of Joseph, our Lord's 
reputed father. We shall leave Simeon, at the end of this century, the 
chief pastor of the Jewish church. 

Milner falls into the Catholic blunder in calling this Simeon the son 
of Cleopas. The Catholics have thus endeavored to annihilate all 
Mary's children except Jesus, lest they might detract from the honor 
of Mary or of Jesus. We find in later history traces of the grand- 
children of Jude, another of the brothers. The following is the 
account of the grandsons of Jude, about forty -five years later, or 
about a.d. 80: 

Some persons, who were brought before the emperor, were charged 
with being related to the royal family. They appear to have been related 
to our Lord, and were the grandsons of Jude the apostle, his cousin. 
Domitian asked them if they were of the family of David, which they 
acknowledged. He then demanded what possessions they enjoyed, and 
what money they had. They laid open the poverty of their circum- 
stances, and owned that they maintained themselves by their labor. 
The truth of their confession was- evinced by their hands, and by their 
appearance in general. Domitian then interrogated them concerning 
Christ and his kingdom — when and where it should appear. They 
answered, like their Master when questioned by Pilate — that his king- 
dom was not of this world, but heavenly ; that its glory should appear 
at the consummation of the world, when he should judge the quick and 
dead, and reward every man according to his works. Poverty is some- 
times a defense against oppression, though it never shields from con- 
tempt. Domitian was satisfied -that his throne was in no danger from 
Christian ambition ; and the grandsons of Jude were dismissed with tbe 
same sort of derision with which their Savior had formerly been dismissed 
by Herod. 

Jude, who wrrote the epistle, distinguished himself from the apostles 
by saying, "Remember ye the words which were spoken before of 
the apostles," . . . and "How that they told you." (Jude 17, 18.) 
Also, Jude styles himself the brother of James. The very words 
used ( Mark 6:3) concerning Jesus, ' ' the son of Mary, the brother 
of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not 



THE HOLY FAMILY 501 

his sisters here with us? " Eusebius, the oldest church historian 
extant, who also wrote before the Roman Catholic Church was 
founded, calls this Jude not an apostle; but, speaking of his grand- 
sons, speaks of them as the grandsons of Jude, the brother of 
Christ " according to the flesh," and says that they (the grandsons of 
Jude according to the flesh) held the episcopal office down to the 
time of Trajan. [See Eusebius III. J Of Joses and the sisters all 
record has been lost, probably destroyed by the Papists, who have 
waged an unceasing war of annihilation upon all the children of 
Mary except Jesus, and to his living word they refuse free access, 
showing the people instead a crucifix cross and wafer gods of their 
own creating. If to us relationship by the flesh seems so precious, 
frow much more so should appear, the relationship of the Spirit! 
Jesus, when they endeavored to direct his special attention to the 
earthly relationship, answered them, "Whosoever shall do the will 
of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother." 

RESURRECTION. 

My desire is that the common people may be equally well posted in 
Scripture doctrine with the preachers, and, therefore, on great dis- 
puted questions, I endeavor to lay before the readers, in a bird's-eye 
view, the texts, pro and co?i, relating to the subject. The following 
first-named Scriptures support, or are sometimes quoted, to prove a 
moral resurrection in this world : 

I. MORAL RESURRECTION. 

" If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, 
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Col. 3:1.) 

u The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the 
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." (John 5: 
25.) 

1 ' I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of 
Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the 
beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their 
foreheads, or in their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ 
a thousand years." (Rev. 20 : 4.) 

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live : and whoso- 
ever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou 
this?" (John 11: 25, 26.) 

" But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell 
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your 
mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." ( Rom. S : 11.) 

To the resurrection intimated or supposed to be proved by some or 
all of the above texts, or others, no person objects, but most people 



502 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

contend for a literal resurrection of the dead also, and in proof, not 
only the well-known resurrection of Christ, recorded in the last of 
the gospels, and treated largely in the first part of I. Cor. 15 : 1-21, 
but also the following texts : 

II. RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. 

" Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are 
in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have 
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5 : 28, 29.) 

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ; and the 
dead in Christ shall rise first." ( I. Thess. 4 : 16.) 

' ' For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for 
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, 
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to 
the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto him- 
self." (Phil. 3:20, 21.) 

" Grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus 
the resurrection from the dead." (Acts 4 : 2.) 

"When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: 
and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter." (Acts 
17:32.) 

"There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and 
unjust." (Acts 24: 15.) 

' ' Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of larying on of hands, and of 
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." (Heb. 6:2.) 

"If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the 
dead." (Phil. 3:11.) 

' k They cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at 
the resurrection of the just." (Luke 14: 14.) 

"Sadducees which say there is no resurrection. . . . Jesus an- 
swered, . . . Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of 
God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in 
marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching 
the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was 
spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the 
dead, but of the living." (Matt. 22 : 23, 29-32.) 

" For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, 
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." (Rom. 6:5.) 

III. RESURRECTION NOT IN THIS LIFE 

Texts from I. Cor. 15 : 19-55: "If in this Hfe only we have hope 
in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ 
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 



THE RESURRECTION 503 

For since by man came death, by man came aiso the resurrection of 
the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; after- 
ward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end. 
. . . God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed 
his own body. ... So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is 
sown in corruption ; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonor ; 
it is raised in glory : it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power : it is 
sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural 
body, and there is a spiritual body. ... So when this corruptible 
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im- 
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O 
grave, where is thy victory? " 

IV. THE BURNING BUSH NOT CONSUMED, AND THE DEAD NOT PERISHED, 
ARE PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION. 

"If Christ be not raised, . . . then they also which are fallen 
asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in 
Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen 
from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." 
(I. Cor. 15:17-20.) 

"As touching the dead, that they rise : have ye not read in the book 
of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the 
God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He 
is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living : ye therefore 
do greatly err. " ( Mark 12:26,27.) 

V. THE DEAD REST IN HOPE. 

' l My flesh shall rest in hope : because thou wilt not leave my soul 
in hell [sheol, hades], neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One [ Christ] 
to see corruption." (Acts 2 : 26, 27.) 

VI. THE RESURRECTED DO NOT MARRY. 

"When they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are 
given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven." 
(Mark 12: 25.) 

VII. THEY ARE AS ANGELS. 

"For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in 
marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." (Matt. 22 : 30.) 

vni. NOT PAST. 

' Hymeneus and Philetus ; who concerning the truth have erred, 
saying that the resurrection is past already ; and overthrow the faith 
of some." (II. Tim. 2:17, 18.) 



504 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

IX. NOT YET ATTAINED. 

" If by any means 1 might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."' 
(Phil. 3:11.) 

X. NOT ALL WILL BE DEAD. 

"We shall not all sleep,, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, 
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall 
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed." (I. Cor. 15: 51, 52.) 

XI. AT THE LAST DAY. 

"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which 
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again 
at the last day. " ( J ohn 6 : 39.) 

""I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last 
day." (John 11: 24.) 

XII. SADDUCEES DENIED IT. 

" Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection." (Matt. 22 : 
23.) 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of April 27, 1878: 

Please give your opinion. Is it right to submit to take an oath in the 
following form. "I do solemnly swear, etc.?" We are taught not to 
swear. Is it right to affirm ? I think it is. Henry King. 

Answer. You are correct. 

What did Paul mean when he said, "Our God is a consuming fire?" 
( Heb. 12 : 19.) Why do ministers often quote it — "God out of Christ is 
a consuming fire ? " S. S. Morrow. 

Answer. The preceding clause is ' ' godly fear. " The clause alluded 
to, Jesus quotes from Deut. 4: 24, "For the Lord thy God is a con- 
suming fire, even a jealous God." Dr. Clarke says, "on our God is 
a consuming fire : " "The man who does not labor to serve God, etc., 
will find that fire to consume him, which otherwise would have con- 
sumed his sins." (See both illustrated in I. Cor. 3:13-15.) Men 
quote the text, "God out of Christ is a consuming fire" — some 
because they know no better reading, and some meaning, God to the- 
unsaved is a consuming fire. The consuming part is now generally 
denied. 

In the absence of the minister, is it lawful for the deacons to admin- 
ister the communion? Willis Smith. 
Willet, New York. 

Answer. Yes. 



EXPOSITIONS 505 

Please give your opinion of the millennium. When and what will it 
be? Also please explain Rev. 13: 1. Lizzie T. Smith. 

Mabees, Jackson County, Ohio. 

The millennium is the thousand years of grace while Satan is 
chained. (See Rev. 20 : 4.) It is supposed to be prior to the coming 
of Christ, as his coming is placed at the end; and he must reign till 
he has destroyed the last enemy. Satan, after being chained one 
thousand years, will be loosed long enough to rally the wicked in a 
war against Christ. Were it not for this, thousands of sinners would 
profess to be on Christ's side ; but the circumstances will cause every 
man to go to his own place, when fire comes down and destroys them. 

Explain Rev. 13 : 1. 

The beast signifies papal Rome, with its church dominion. The 
sea is the Mediterranean, in which is Rome, in Italy, a peninsula ; 
that is, it is in the sea. The leopard appearance symbolized the spot- 
ted garments of the priests ; the feet like a bear, the monks ; the ten 
horns and diadems, the ten kingdoms — represented by the ten toes 
also. For names of blasphemy, see Rev. 17: 4, 5. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of May 18, 1878 : 

Brother Summerbell: Please let us have your explanation of 
Rom. 5: 18, 19. I. Mooney. 

Reply. Rom. 5: 18, 19 reads, "Therefore, as by the offence of 
one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the 
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto' justification 
of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, 
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." 

The condemnation was to death ; that is, to the grave, ' ' for that all 
have sinned." The "righteousness of one" brings upon all justifica- 
tion of life, "life from the death"; that is, a resurrection from the 
dead, and with that hope, the free gift in Christ is to justification of 
life. Remember that the gospel is the good news "life from the 
dead " ; but though the redemption is for all, and all are redeemed 
from the condemnation of death, and though it was necessary that 
the word of God should first have been spoken to the Jews, yet 
seeing that they put it from them, and judged themselves unworthy 
of everlasting life, lo, even the apostles turned to the gentiles, and 
others took the crown of life, so that Luke 13 : 28 is fulfilled. Thus 
the word "all" is mentioned as to what Christ does for us; but only 
the word "many" is used concerning the number made righteous; 
because that "many are called, but few are chosen." Without Christ 
there is no life. All was lost in Adam. But by Christ the law's 
penalty is stayed, so far as to give all a resurrection, and through 
that,- if they accept now, eternal life in Christ. But John, who 
knew, made the following record of the terms : 



506 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



THE RECORD. 



"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and 
this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that 
hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I. John 5 : 11, 12.) 

Brother Summ erbell : Please answer the following questions: 
1. What is the intermediate state of the soul? 2. What is the interme- 
diate state of the wicked ? S. B. Masters. 

California, Ohio, May 8, 1878. 

Reply. Read Luke, 16: 19-31. The place is (hades) hell, called 
in the Hebrew sheol, and is to be destroyed in the lake of fire. ( See 
Rev. 20:14.) We may not understand it, but the Bible teaches 
suffering for the wicked and happiness for the good in an interme- 
diate state called sheol, hades, tartarus, and for the good also 
paradise. 

Where in the Bible can I find the word " trinity " ? 
Reply. It is not a Bible term. 

Where does this text occur? "Of his (Satan's) kingdom there shall 
be no end." Give chapter and verse. 

Reply. The words you quote apply to Christ's kingdom. (See 
Dan. 2: 44 and 7: 27.) For the fate of Satan read Heb. 2: 14; for 
the end of his subjects and principles read Matt. 13 : 24-30 and 13 : 
37-43; for the fate of his kingdom read Rev. 20: 14; for the dura- 
tion of his punishment, read Rev. 20 : 10 ; for the triumph of Christ's 
kingdom read I. Cor. 15: 24-28; for the confirmation of the truth 
read Rev. 21 : 1-4. 

How many books are there in the Catholic Bible ? 

Reply. I think seventy-three, but have not time to look this 
morning. 

Which is the most numerous of the Protestant Churches in the world ? 
Reply. The Lutheran, I think. It numbers about forty millions. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 15, 1878 : 

"The Two Ways." — And are there two ways? Two ways lead 
to two endings. No, there is but one way to heaven, and Jesus is 
the way. And as Jesus was in that way before he was 'baptized, so 
may his disciples be. We must not narrow the way to fit our narrow 
minds, nor shorten the way to the measure of our short-sighted 
charity, but keep it open for all the pilgrims whose faces are set 
towards Zion's glorious mount. God's church in heaven and his 
church on earth all compose one family. I often think that if we 



WAY TO HEAVEN 507 

would heed the prayer, ' ' Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 
earth, as it is in heaven," there would be more churches built "after 
the pattern of heavenly things. " Did you ever imagine a Baptist 
meeting a Quaker in heaven with this greeting ? 

Baptist — I am happy to meet you, friend. 

Quaker — I am glad, John, that thee is happy. Did thee find any 
difficulty at the door on account of thy gay garments ? 

Baptist — Oh, no! I left them on earth. But did they not ask 
thee for thy certificate of baptism ? Surely heaven is not less select 
than the church. 

Quaker — Nay, friend, all who have the spirit and cross the Jordan 
heavenward are sufficiently baptized. 

Baptist — Pardon, friend, I am glad to see you here, and happy to 
find that heaven is not quite so particular as the particular Baptists. 

Quaker — Nay, nay, friend John. Heaven is more particular. 
The difference is, Baptists exclude all who are not washed in the 
river, but heaven accepts all who have the washing of regeneration. 
Does thee not discover that there are many Friends here, but that 
many of thy brethren are left out ? - 

Baptist — Yes, yes, I see it all now. 

CHRISTIAN UNION. 

We have Brother B. with his "not a Christian Church," because 
immersion is made a test, and N. with his Christian Church, with 
immersion as a pre-requisite. Which is the true representative 
Christian Church ? The church which does not make immersion a 
test, yet fellowships the church that does, is the true ideal of a Chris- 
tian Church. The question of immersion is one depending upon 
learning and logic. A man may believe in Christ with all his heart, 
and yet not believe in immersion at all. There is no precept stating 
that baptism itself is a pre-requisite to membership, much less 
immersion. The word "immerse" is a Latin verb, which a man 
may not understand the meaning of at all, and yet be a believer in 
Christ. Jesus never used the word "immerse." Jesus never com- 
manded any man to make immersion a test of church-membership. 
A local congregation has the right, perhaps, to adopt what tests its 
judgment dictates, even immersion; or belief that the bread is "my 
body," that is, Christ's flesh; or that it is "in (Greek, eis) one spirit 
we are all baptized into one body," just as it reads. But one has no 
authority in the Word of God for making his opinion of the mean- 
ing of these passages a test. If the word ' ' church " means anything 
sacred, it is that it is composed of God's children. We become God's 
children by a spirit-birth. "Born of the Spirit." We are thus born 
of incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. This is called 
^ l the seed of God which remaineth in him" that "is born of God. 11 



508 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Persons thus born are the children of God, added by the Lord to the 
church, grafted into the true vine, and members of God's family, the 
church. No man can keep such an one out of the family of God. 
If a child is born into a family, it belongs there by birthright, and no 
legislation by other members of the family can make void the fact. 
The child is such not by vote of the children, but by act of the 
parent, by the seed which starts its new existence, and a member of 
the family by birthright. Its washing does not make it a child in 
the family ; but its generation from the parent is its right of inher- 
itance. So it is in God's church or family. Every person begotten 
by the incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God, and nourished 
into life by the Spirit, is one of God's family ; and so Jesus taught, 
so Paul taught, so Peter taught. Jesus attended to these also as the 
"other sheep not of this fold"; that is, converted people, not of the 
Jews. Paul alluded to these "my people which were not my people," 
and there is not a syllable in the Word of God which authorizes any 
man, or set of men, to bar any of God's children from his church. 
Yet the Christian Church is true to her mission of union, charity, 
and love, when she offers fellowship to men and to churches which 
are imperfect. And we must not deny a church because we think 
that she is in some things wrong, any more than an individual. 
Charity is to cover error. Even Catholics will fellowship all the 
churches which they think are right. Who will not ? If we only 
do the same, what better are we than they ? What does Christian 
union mean, if we can fellowship those only who agree with us ? Do 
not even publicans and sinners the same ? 

THE THREE STEPS. 

But does not the New Testament present "faith, repentance, and 
baptism" as the three steps to the church door ? No! These words 
never occur in that form, and no church door is named as the con- 
sequence or next step. Jesus in his first lessons said, "Repent and 
believe the gospel " ; but he never said believe and repent the gospel. 
Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; 
knock, and it shall be opened unto you" ; but he never said none are 
accepted till baptized, and he did not practice on that principle. He 
accepted those who he saw were right in heart. In the Acts of the 
Apostles only about half the cases of conversion are followed by bap- 
tism, and there is no proof that persons were kept from the church 
till after baptism. In Peter's first sermon (Acts 2: 21), the firsj 
promise is, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be 
saved." Why, then, not make this the third step; thus, repentance, 
faith, prayer. Acts 10 we find a Gentile with faith in God, praying, 
and Peter preaches to him that in Christ whosoever believes in him 
has remission of sins; and the Holy Ghost descends upon the con- 
verts, and Peter discovers that "God had accepted them." In the 



CHRISTIAN UNION 509 

tenth of Romans St. Paul defines the way of faith not to be, "Who- 
soever doeth," but when, with the heart, we believe unto righteous- 
ness, and, with the mouth, make confession unto salvation. "Who- 
soever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved." I confess 
that I like this way, because it gives us steps which all may take. 
All cannot be baptized, but all can repent, believe, and pray. Some 
cannot be baptized, 

1. Who are at sea where is no preacher. 

2. Who are on sandy deserts where is no water. 

3. On battle-fields where is no opportunity. 

4. Who are ignorant and do not know duty. 

5. Who are nailed to crosses, or in prison, and cannot go to the 
water. 

To drive one from the church whom we may fellowship in an hour 
in heaven is inconsistent. But who gave us the right to define the 
duty of all the wise and good, or debar them from church fellowship ? 
The right must lie somewhere. Is it in our superior wisdom or 
superior learning ? or have we a commission from the Lord to keep 
the unbaptized out, and to decide who are, and who are not, baptized? 
•and for others as wise and good as ourselves, decide — 

1. That baptize means immerse. 

2. That it means with water. 

3. That it is a prerequisite to church-membership ? 
Read all of I. Corinthians, chapters twelve and thirteen. 

TERTULLIAN ON TRINE IMMERSION. 

Tertullian was an African, who wrote in the latter part of the 
second century and the first decades of the third century. Only two 
hundred years after Christ is no more proof of purity in religion 
than one hundred years after Washington (our time) is proof that 
there are not twenty Confederate generals in Congress now. In 
his book De Corona Militis, Cap. 3, Terullian defends the practice 
of wearing the military crown on the principle of custom, which he 
contends must have emanated from tradition. In enumerating 
various usages then existing in the church, whicb were not to be 
vindicated by Scripture, but on the principle thus assumed, he begins 
with baptism. He says : 

That I may, therefore, begin with baptism : When about to proceed 
to water, we then, and, indeed, somewhat sooner in the church beneath 
the hand of the bishop (or president), call heaven and earth to witness 
that we renounce the devil, his pomp, and angels. Then we are dipped 
three times, answering something more than our Lord has determined in 
the gospel. Then having been taken up out of the water, we partake of 
a mixture of milk and honey. And from that day abstain through a 
whole week from the daily bath. The sacrament of the eucharist, which 
our Lord celebrated at mealtime, and ordered all to take, we receive in 
assemblies before day, and never but from the pastors. We give obla- 



510 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

tions every day for, that is, in commemoration of, the dead on the day 
of their martyrdom. We deem it unlawful either to observe a fast or 
to pray in the posture of kneeling on the Lord's day. The same festive 
immunity we assume from Easter to Pentecost. We are deeply wounded 
if any of our bread or wine fall to the ground. At every undertaking 
or entrance upon business, at every coming in or going out, at dressing 
and putting on our sandals, at going into baths, at table, at the lighting 
cf candles, at going to bed, at taking our seats, and whatever business 
occupies our attention, we mark our forehead with the sign of the cross. 
If you demand the scriptural law authorizing these and other such like 
usages, you will find none. Tradition will be presented as the founder, 
custom the confirmer, and faith as the observer of them all. — Tertulliana 
De Corona Militis Liber, Cap. 3 : 4. 

The reader will notice that for these African superstitions no Scrip- 
ture precedent is claimed ; but that they are added to what Christ 
commanded is confessed. . 

I am glad to learn we have some churches which are "close Bap- 
tist." There is as much sense in that as in "close communion," and 
I like that variety. I believe that there is room in the Christian 
Church for all kinds of Christians. If for only one kind, where were 
the union ? Let every kind have a home here who can find a home 
in heaven. I am glad to hear of the beaver churches of Maine. 
Beavers have much of the damming about their work, and can only 
live near the water. Here in Illinois the country is too low to dam. 
It would flood all the country. Ours have to be rather prairie-dog 
churches, making the earth do, for we are sometimes twenty miles 
from streams deep enough to immerse in, and it would be a terrible 
thing to think that poor people, the old, infirm, and cripples, had all 
to be damned unless they could reach beaver churches; yet I like 
some beaver churches. But there is another kind that we must have ; 
there is room enough for it everywhere; that is, "charity churches" 
— churches which accept all whom God accepts, receiving others 
even as Christ received you. Above all, give us charity churches. 
Beaver churches may fail in a drouth, and earth churches when the 
world is on fire, but charity never faileth. 

Doing and Saying. — There is just as much difference between 
men now as ever', and we have all the kinds of men now that they 
had in old times. Then they "had some who said that they would 
work in the vineyard, but did not ; and others who refused at first, 
but went to work ; and Jesus preferred the workers. So do I. We 
have many talkers, but few workers ; many eaters and sleepers, but 
few providers. Yet, strange to say, the talkers often secure the most 
affection. I have known a man who made friends of all the preachers 
by talk, but who seldom gave anything. I have known men who 
you would know from their words were good, but not good for any- 
thing. I know a man now who keeps all his denomination posted 
in the papers about all the news in his church, but never does any- 



DOING AND SAYING 511 

thing, though he is wealthy. Learn to distinguish between good 
talkers and good workers; between good wooing and good doing. 
Satan was a pleasant talker in Eden, and said, ' ' Ye shall not surely 
die " ; but he lied, and was the father of it, and God told him that the 
seed of the woman would bruise his head, and Jesus will do it. To 
bruise a serpent's head is to crush it, to kill the serpent ; and Jesus 
will do it, for Jesus is not a talker only, but a doer. He will bruise 
Satan under our feet, and destroy him that hath power over death — 
that is, the devil. And I doubt not that many of his good talkers 
who will not do will have their part with him. (See Rev. 20: 14.) 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 22, 1878 : 

DUTY OF DENOMINATIONS. 

The present state of the religious world is a call to every true 
Christian to consider the best mode for the united action of all bibli- 
cal churches, to secure the harmony, prosperity, and security of the 
Church of Christ. There is nothing more certain than that the 
following precept of Jesus is perfect: "Every kingdom divided 
against itself is brought to desolation ; and every city or house divided 
against itself shall not stand," and that the intimation in his prayer 
that divisions prevent faith is an infallible guide to truth, namely, 
"That they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may 
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved 
me ; " or, as it reads with the context : 

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall 
believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one ; as thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: 
that the world may believe that thou has sent me. And the glory 
which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, 
even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast 
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John IT: 
20-23.) 

In the light of this prayer, it is easy to see that sectarianism is the 
prevailing heresy of the age. 

Protestant denominations should meet in a general assembly and 
form a basis of union on the Bible, agreeing to insist upon nothing as 
an essential test of fellowship in doctrine that cannot be stated with 
verbal accuracy in Bible language ; nor even then, if doubted by the 
majority, except so far as to" preclude from membership in the desig- 
nated churches declaring for it ; while all who accept the Bible as the 
highest authority, and Christ as an infallible teacher and Savior, 
should be entitled to membership in the general church union. The 
only real objection to this is to be found in selfishness or bigotry. All 



512 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

who can read and see know that purity of life bears no proportion to 
the supposed excellence of doctrine. The despised Quaker surpasses 
the Lutheran ; the reprobate Swedenborgian excels the Presbyterian ; 
the despised Jew even ranks immeasurably, in morals, above the 
self-sufficient Catholic, while it is admitted on all hands that others 
of the minor ''heretical sects," so called, are models of virtue as 
compared with the English, Russian, Greek, or German churches. 
Let us, then, lay aside selfishness and work for the good of our com- 
mon Zion. Let us realize that we have a "talent" to improve, and 
are told to "occupy," and deserting duty even to die happy, may not 
meet the Savior's approval. Suppose, when we propose to enter the 
pearly gate, these questions are to be answered: 1. "Did you read 
the precept, ' By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye have love one to another? ' Did you show that love to the weak, 
poor, persecuted disciples who were not of your sect, or did you act 
upon the world -principle to love your own? 2. Did you read my 
precept, ' Judge not, that ye be not judged? For with what judgment 
ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it 
shall be measured to you again ; ' and did you act accordingly, or did 
you set at naught your brother? 3. Did you read my prayer for the 
union of my followers recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John? 
4. How did you leave the church, united in love, or rent by division? 
Were you instrumental in fostering division, or did you labor to pro- 
mote the union I taught and prayed for? " How many would have 
to answer, ' ' Lord, we know that you thus taught, but we had good 
salaries and a good name; we were called orthodox, and thought it 
best to enjoy our place, position, reputation, and good things, and let 
the matters named in these precepts take care of themselves." How 
hard it would be if there were then written opposite your name, 
"Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedest thy good things." 
See Luke 16 : 19-31 for the rest, or perhaps Matt. 7: 22, 23. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 29, 1878 : 

Is baptism a birth by which we are initiated into God's family or 
church? Will baptism fill the conditions of a birth? How is it, and 
why is it so ? F. S. Robinson. 

Reply. No ! Baptism is never, in the Bible, called a birth. That 
"born of water" (John 3:5) means baptism, is at best but opinion. 
Read it so, "Except a man be baptized, he cannot see the kingdom 
of God," and you exclude every unbaptized man from heaven. For 
if he can enter heaven, he can certainly enter that kingdom of God. 
We have no right to change the word of God in order to exclude 
others. Baptism is a washing, but not a birth or creation. It makes 
nothing, starts nothing. Birth implies — 

1. Parent. 



BAPTISM NOT A BIRTH 513 

2. Seed. 

3. Quickening. 

4. Propagation of substance. 

5. Young of the parents' nature. 

We are not "initiated" into God's family; we are born into it; 
born of God, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible — the word 
of God. We have one change; that is, from flesh to spirit. "As we 
have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of 
the heavenly." (I. Cor. 15: 49.) For God predestinates us "to be 
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn." 
(Rom. 8: 29.) "Born of water" is explained in the next verse as 
"born of flesh." Jesus says, "Except a man be born of water and 
of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." 
(John 3 : 5-7.) The new birth is a birth from above, "not of blood, 
. . . nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13.) Jesus 
uses water and spirit as synonymous with flesh and spirit, water 
having that signification in the Bible. See the following, " His seed 
shall be in many waters." (Num. 24:7.) "O house of Jacob, 
which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the 
waters of Judah." (Isa. 48: 1.) God himself is a "fountain of liv- 
ing waters." (Jer. 2:13.) 

Continuation of nature is essential to birth : namely, that which is 
born of flesh is flesh; that which is born of spirit is spirit; ergo, 
that which is born of water (literal water) is water. If sirnply 
coming" "out of " was birth, then we might be born an hundred times 
a day, or as often as we come out of any place ! But birth implies a 
new existence of or from the substance of which one is born. If 
literal water were a mother, the child would be a pool or rivulet. 
That "like begets like" is a maxim so well understood that no jury 
could be convinced that a mammoth was the child of a man, or that 
•a man was the child of a river. St. Paul alludes to this communion 
of nature when he says, " Certain also of your own poets have said, 
For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the off- 
spring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto 
gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." (Acts 17 : 
28, 29.) 

The crowning proof that baptism is not a birth is in the following 
words, ' ' Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot 
enter into the kingdom of God." If born of water means baptism, 
then we may read it, "Except a man be baptized, he cannot enter 
the kingdom of God ! " But no sensible Protestant believes that ; 
therefore, none should contend for it. Baptism is the original form 
of a new dedication or consecration to religion ; therefore, we are not 
baptized ("g&") out of , but ("e£s") unto. 

33 



514 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of July 6, 1878 : 

The great event next before us is the quadrennial convention. I 
am making my final appeal to the brethren to be ready for it. I ask 
for those who love the cause to act promptly. The following figures 
should inspire confidence — 

Raised on Delhi plan, $3,297.66. Paid on old debts, interest, etc., 
$3,585.76. Decrease of debt, $6,043.92. Now subscribed on one- 
hundred-dollar plan, $3,000; which narrows the amount to free the 
Publishing House to $15,000. We can do it if you will act promptly. 
Send your name this very week. I am about to visit the churches, 
and I want to know which churches have these one-hundred-dollar 
men and women. Send me your name. 

The Christian Publishing Association is now made plainly the 
property of the whole denomination in the United States and Canada, 
and secured to it forever, by the constitution making all the confer- 
ence presidents, and the president of each college, biblical school, 
academy, and seminary, members, ex officio, of the Publishing Asso- 
ciation, and giving each conference, in addition to this, one delegate, 
and other delegates, namely, one for each $500 subscribed within its 
bounds. The power of a few to govern is also cut off by cutting off 
all proxy votes, and abolishing the false idea of stock. Now, dear 
brethren, the property is unquestionably yours. Pay for it, elect 
your officers, govern it, and make it great for usefulness. 

THE HERALD. 

By the report published in this week's paper, the readers 
can see .that the Herald is a valuable property, capable of 
clearing yearly a large amount of money. You will see that, 
notwithstanding opposition, the crippled state of affairs, no 
capital to work on, and other difficulties, we have paid out on 
old obligations the past eighteen months, $9,634.68, and. in- 
creased the circulation one-fifth ; that is, from 4,536 to 5,520. 
Let our brethren, therefore, take courage. Make a strong 
effort to free our Publishing House of its enormous debt, and 
it will repay you a hundredfold. The Herald is the property 
of the people called Christians. It does not belong to the 
editor, nor to the office agent, nor to the trustees, nor to the 
ministers, but to the people. It is the people who take it, pay 
for it, sustain it, and own it. And the people sustain it, not 
as a common to be run over at will, or as an omnibus for ail 



HERALD OF GOSPEL LIBERTY 515 

to use, but as an advocate of Bible sentiments, as generally 
understood by the people who own, sustain, and must control 
it. Other views should be tolerated ; other questions investi- 
gated ; other faiths proved ; but the Herald is, and should be, 
the advocate of strict truth, as it is in Jesus. No man has a 
right to press its columns to advocate his own pet theory. He 
has a right to a theory ; he has a right to preach or to publish 
it ; but he has no right, except by toleration, to use the paper, 
which the people pay for, to advance side issues or private 
schemes. The Herald has certain landmarks to keep in view. 
It must be true to God, faithful to Jesus. St. Paul says, " But 
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel 
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him 
be accursed." But St. Paul could define more accurately than 
we can. In cursing, we might cut off some of God's children ; 
therefore, while we point to this text as a warning, we say, 
True to God ; true to Christ ; true to charity. We can tolerate 
an error without adopting it, and tolerate an erring brother 
without indorsing his error. And charity is one of the truest 
truths of revelation or religion. Still, let it be remembered 
that the paper is the organ of the Christian Church, and, as 
such, it is an advocate of charity, because the church recog- 
nizes charity and toleration as fundamental principles of the 
gospel. 

ELOHIM, GOD, JEHOVAH. 

GOD. This wonderful word signifies the first great cause, Creator 
and Supreme Ruler of the universe. His peculiar name is Jehovah; 
that is, of self-existing substance — sometimes called, "I am that I 
am," "who was, and is, and is to come." 

" Father of all, in every age, 
And every clime adored, 
By saint, by savage, or by sage — 
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord." 

The name God is used only to designate the great Creator in the 
first chapter of Genesis ( which properly closes with the third verse 
of the second chapter). In the second chapter (from the fourth 
verse) he is not once called God, but always "The Lord God"; that 
is, Jehovah Elohim. But in the third chapter, the name God only is 
used by both the serpent and the woman in the temptation ; but the 



516 STJMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

historian retains the name only "The Lord God," showing that the 
second and third chapters were originally written by the same hand, 
but a later writer than the scribe of the first chapter, or the time 
when God was called simply Elohim; that is', God. In the fourth 
chapter the word "God" is dropped, and the word "Lord"; that is, 
Jehovah (alone) is used, denoting another change of writers. At 
the fifth chapter the words begin to be used indiscriminately, though 
God said to Moses, ' 'And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and 
unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah 
was I not known to them." (Ex. 6:3.) 

Elohim, or God, signifies poioer, but Jehovah signifies self -exist- 
ence. Though Jehovah signifies a state of being, yet it forms no 
verb. It is never plural, because there is but the One self-existent. 
We read of gods, but never of Jehovahs. Josephus calls Jehovah 
Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered name ( JHVH). Moses expresses 
the truth in the law, saying, "Jehovah our God is one Jehovah," or, 
as it is rendered, "The Lord our God is one Lord." (Deut. 6:4; 
Mark 12 : 29.) This Jehovah is, without doubt, the God of the New 
Testament, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
is designated as "God, who at sundry times and in divers man- 
ners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in 
these last days spoken unto us by his Son." (Heb. 1 : 1, 2.) To him 
Jesus prayed, saying, Father, "this is life eternal, that they might 
know thee the only true God." (John 17:3.) And of him St. Paul 
said, "There is none other God but one. For though there be that 
are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods 
many, and lords many,) but to us there is but one God, the Father, 
of whom are all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom are all things, and we by him. Howbeit that there is not 
in every man that knowledge." (I. Cor. 8 : 4-7.) This is the God of 
whom Paul says, "He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 
. . . though he be not far from every one of us : for in him we live, 
and move, and have our being; . . . for we are also his offspring." 
(Acts 17:25-28.) Thus he is the "One God and Father of all, 
who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:6.) To 
this God Paul says Jesus will finally deliver up the kingdom. "And 
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also 
himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God 
may be all in all." (I. Cor. 15 : 28.) This also is the God to whom 
John refers when he says, "And we know that the Son of God is 
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him 
that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus 
Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life"; for in John 17: 3, 
Jesus says expressly of his Father, "This is life eternal, that they 
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou 
hast sent." 



THE TRUE GOD 517 

The evils of worshiping false gods are many, of which the follow- 
ing are some — 

1. It encourages insubordination. 

2. It causes persons to speak lightly of the true God. 

3. It leads to worshiping God in the form of a man or bird. 
(Rom. 1:23.) 

4. It leads to the worship of images. 

5. It is a violation of the first commandment. (See Ex. 20: 3; 
Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29.) 

6. It is very offensive to Christ. (Matt. 19 : 17.) 

7. It leads to much hypocrisy, as is proved in this, that every 
able writer, at one time or another, admits that Jehovah is the "only 
true God," and, therefore, prevaricates when he denies it. 

8. It prevents the conversion of many honest and intelligent men, 
and possibly whole nations, and thereby strengthens false religions. 

9. It no doubt cuts off otherwise true believers from many spirit- 
ual gifts. 

10. Causes much ill temper in defending errors and contradictions 
for salaries' sake, which culminates in bigotry and persecution. 

11. Prevents the deep and consistent piety which would otherwise 
exist. 

12. Prevents the conversion of the world. 

13. There is no excuse for the followers of Jesus worshiping as 
God any god except the true Jehovah. 

How do you explain Gen. 2:21: "And the Lord God caused a deep 
sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and 
closed up the flesh instead thereof"? Do you think that God really 
took a rib from Adam to form him a wife? J.'Q,. Redman. 

Reply. I think the word rib signifies more than rib, and the mean- 
ing is that God drew the substance to form Eve from the side of 
Adam. These questions imply more than the careless observer is 
aware of. Some of the things I will explain as follows : God works 
by means, as Christ did: Jesus made the wine from water; cured 
the blind by clay ; laid his hands on to bless. Elijah breathed into 
the child ; much oil was drawn from the little ; God raised the dead 
from corruption. Creation is an increase and reformation of what 
before existed. Adam comes of the dust, Eve comes of Adam. 
Christ is made of a woman, and, as the body of Adam was utilized 
to make his bride, so Jesus' side is opened to form his bride — the 
church. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
church, and gave himself for it ; ... So ought men to love their 
wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherish- 
eth it, even as the Lord the church : for we are members of his body, 
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his 



518 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two 
shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning 
Christ and the church." Nearly all the dealings of God with his 
people in the Old Testament are typical of great things in the New 
Testament dispensation. 

UNION — THE HEAVENLY FAMILY. 

I wish to obtain through the Herald an exposition of Eph. 3 :14, 15: 
"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." This 
I consider expressive of a common brotherhood in the human race, 
teaching that we are all, both those in heaven, and those in earth, one 
family. As the home of our parents is our natural point of attraction, 
so, by natural intuition, the home of our heavenly Father is to us the 
final point of attraction. Is this so, or does this speak only of the name 
of the family of God in heaven and earth? And, if so, of what name 
does such gospel teach ? U. S. Root. 

Martin, Ottawa County, Ohio. 

Reply. The meaning is the same as this, "I bow my knees unto 
the Father, from whom the whole family of God, comprising good 
angels and good men, in heaven and on earth, is thus denominated.' ' 
This sublime Scripture is a text of love and union, of fraternity and 
brotherhood. The church is thus "the heavenly Jerusalem," with 
an "innumerable company of angels," and "the general assembly 
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven." (Heb. 
12: 22, 23.) The text is expressive of not only a common broth- 
erhood, but a common fatherhood, though it does not deny that 
those who, by wicked works, become ' ' children of their father — the 
devil — who was a liar from the beginning, and the father of it," may 
be cut off, yet the gravitating tendency of all is to God. As the 
ocean is the home of the waters, so God is the home of the soul. 
The tiny drops of water are decoyed away from their mother by the 
bright sun-rays, and float as vapor in the great runaway of life ; but 
ere long they come down amid thunder and lightnings, leap hurriedly 
upon our roof, hasten down to the river, and finally arrive at home, 
embraced in loving mother's arms. Say not, because this is ' ' muddy, " 
or that "brackish," that we will cut it off! All may come who will. 
This explains why religion is universal. Whatever may be the 
ignorance of nations, yet they "all have some religion, some tendency 
toward God. What a lesson is here for love and union, yet not with- 
out truth ! 

The Christian Church is a union church. It does not, however, 
follow union as a phantasm, but as a substance. Were union all, 
then the more the merrier, and Mr. A. would unite with the Chris- 
tians to-day, the Friends to-morrow, the Catholics next day, and so 
on to the end of the chapter. But our union is a union founded on 
truth in Christ, and the Bible is our chart of truth, and Jesus is our 
word of truth. 



PRINCIPLES DEAR TO CHRISTIANS 51^ 

TRUTH, CHARITY, AND UNION. 

These principles are all dear to the Christians, but not equally so. 
Truth is more than union. It has been said that one and God always 
constitute a majority. So, also, one and truth is union. If num- 
bers, without regard to truth, were the union we seek, we should all 
huddle back to the Roman Church, for there Protestants could find 
the union from which they came out — a union doubling, if not tre- 
bling, the sum of all the Protestant sects combined. There nearly 
three hundred millions of people are united in one head, under one 
management. But union without truth is not desirable. The unity 
which the Scriptures require is a union in truth, faith, and love. 
" Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of 
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, 
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by 
the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait 
to deceive ; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in 
all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole 
body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint 
supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of 
every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself 
in love." (Eph. 4:13-16.) Jesus says, "And ye shall know the 
truth, and the truth shall make you free." It is the want of truth 
that destroys true union. So it was in Eden. Satan, by falsehood, 
destroyed man's union with God. The apostle contends for union, 
but it is a union of spirit. He says, "Endeavouring to keep the unity 
of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one 
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, 
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, 
and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:3-6.) The blessed Master 
prayed for union, but he did not shun to defend the truth. These 
are his words which are so offensive, namely, "And Jesus answered 
him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel ; the Lord 
our God is one Lord." Father, "this is life eternal, that they might 
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast 
sent." " My Father is greater than I " ; "my Father, . . . is greater 
than all." And, while many Christian ministers might avoid quoting 
them where they knew that they would excite opposition, yet no true 
disciple of that Master, who is himself ' ' the way, the truth, and the 
life," and by whom came grace and truth, will deny them. Yet. in 
order to, have union, we must not only have truth, but love. The 
union Jesus prayed for did not contemplate perfection of knowledge. 
St. Paul said, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not 
to doubtful disputations. . . . Who art thou that judgest another 
man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. . . . Why 



520 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy 
brother? . . . Let us not therefore judge one another any more: 
but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occa- 
sion to fall in his brother's way." (Rom. 14 : 1-13.) 

They even fellowshiped those who were very ignorant. 

Apollos "was instructed in the way of the Lord ; and being fervent 
in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, 
knowing only the baptism of John." There were other disciples who 
had never heard of the Holy Ghost. Thus St. Paul said to certain 
disciples, "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye 'believed? And 
they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be 
any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye 
baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, 
John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the 
people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, 
that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized 
in the name of the Lord Jesus." 

Then there were others who were secret disciples: "And after this 
Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear 
of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of 
Jesus : and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the 
body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemiis, which at the first 
came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, 
about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, 
and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the 
Jews is to bury." (John 19 : 38-40.) Also there were possibly some 
preachers who built in Christ, hay, wood and stubble. "If any man 
build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, 
stubble." (I. Cor. 3:12.) True, some desired to make thorough 
work, and root out all the tares at once, but Jesus was more conserv- 
ative. "The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and 
gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the 
tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together 
until the harvest : and in the time of harvest I will say to the reap- 
ers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to 
burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matt. 13:28- 
30.) Some turned away. "Many of his disciples went back, and 
walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will 
ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom 
shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and 
are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." ( John 
6 : 66-69.) Doubting Thomas Jesus dealt gently with, and he was 
saved. Peter, called Satan, the one who denied him with oaths, he 
prayed for, and saved him also. If we will be Jesus' disciples, we 
must learn of Jesus, and DO as Jesus did. There is no danger of 
too much charity. Charity built no inquisitions; charity made no 



TRUTH, CHARITY, AND UNION 521 

cruel creeds ; charity kindled no martyr fires. No one is condemned 
in the judgment-day for exercising charity. True Christians are 
"the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar 
and ground of the truth." ( I. Tim. 3:15.) But high upon the front 
of this church must ever be written: "As I have loved you," "that 
ye love one another." "By this shall all men know that ye are my 
disciples, if ye have love one to another." "And now abideth faith, 
hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." 
" For we now see through a glass, darkly." 

I want also to say to my brethren, be not discouraged by the fact 
of diversity. Men can no more think alike than they can look alike. 
To think alike requires : 1. Equal information. 2. Equal influence 
of the Spirit. 3. Equal bodily health and vigor, and multitudes of 
other qualifications which we can never have here. And suppose we 
had all these qualifications, and all thought precisely alike, what 
then? We might pull down our pulpits, for who would remain to be 
taught? The exhorter would cease, for whom would he persuade? 
There would be no conversation, for each would know the lesson, and 
life would be a play, a comedy, a farce. If we will only remember 
that faith, hope, and charity, meekness, love, and humility are fac- 
tors to be counted in every make-up of the sum of true religion, we 
will learn the meaning of Jesus' reproof of Peter in the following 
lesson: "Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus 
loved following ; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, 
. . . What shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that, 
he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." (John 
21:2 0-22.) A long time ago Joseph said to his brethren, "See that 
ye fall not out by the way," and he did not mean out of the wagons, 
either. 

The Christians came together from the wilderness state of the 
church; some from the Baptist " Judaized," Baptist traditions; some 
from the Presbyterians, leavened with Presbyterian meal ; some from 
the Methodists, carrying a diversity of zeal, but all united on the 
Bible in Christ. By and by the Methodist gave up his human name ; 
but not because of force or outward pressure. The Presbyterian 
gave up his sprinkling, but of his free will. The Baptist gave up 
his close communion, but not of constraint. Let us not change our 
charity. We cannot save truth by our personal power. We can 
only hold on to it for ourselves, and preach it as Jesus did. We must 
fellowship every one on earth whom we expect to meet in heaven. 

The following tables, clipped from the Herald "Publisher's Depart- 
ment," July 6, 1878, will give a conception of the toil and anxiety needed 
in saving the Publishing House, all this business being looked after 
minutely by Summerbell in addition to his cares and writings as 
editor: 



•522 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



PUBLISHER'S DEPARTMENT. 

N. SUMMERBELL, PUB. AGT. 

THAT ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR -PLAN. 



N. Summerbell $100 00 

J. Demint 100 00 

Ephriam Pierce 100 00 

Elizabeth Howland 100 00 

John Miller 100 00 

A. T. Nelson 100 00 

Reeves McGilliard 100 00 

Leonard Canfleld 100 00 

Croy, McFarland & Co 100 00 

U. H. Meeker 100 00 

A. N. Bently 100 00 

W. B. Haight 100 00 

Mrs. Charlotte Moore ( paid ) 100 00 

Stephen Tanner 100 00 



Dorothy Wright $100 00 

A Friend.... 100 00 

Joseph Pearson 100 00 

John Currier 100 00 

Friend, No. 2 100 00 

True Friend 100 00 

Isaac Chase 100 00 

Clermont 100 00 

Mary Ann Buckley ( paid ) 100 00 

Dr. W. S. Clark.. .: 100 00 

Experience Camp 100 00 

Daniel Lovitt (paid) 100 00 

S. J. McCarn 100 00 



DELHI PLAN — DONATIONS. 



We acknowledge the receipt of the following donations, 
reader, be in the list of donors. Never was it more needed. 



Let your name, 



Amount brought forward $3,280 96 



Reuben Moore and family 1 85 

Perry Stewart 10 00 

George Mann 1 00 



Wm. N. Austin in memoriam.. $0 62 

Sarah Austin 61 

Delilah Austin 18 



Total $3,295 22 



CONDENSED REPORT OF THE CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
January 1, 1877 — June 15, 1878. 

ASSETS. 

January 1, 1877, cash on hand $00,000 00 

Assets estimated at 17,000 00 

LIABILITIES. 

The liabilities January 1, 1877, were as follows: 



Obligations by Notes on Interest, January 1, 1877. 



R. McGilliard $3,000 00 

Rachael Hoover 2,600 17 

Trustees 4,000 00 

Mrs. Chrisman 100 00 

Ohio State Association 5,428 88 

U. B. Publishing House 314 10 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 4,318 94 



Jesse Demint , 

V. Winters & Son, per Demint 

Croy & McFarland 

H. R. Groneweg 

H.Y.Rush 



$800 00 


240 00 


170 00 


100 00 


100 00 



Total $21,172 



The Amount of Interest Unpaid, January 1, 1877. 



R. McGilliard $233 00 

Rachael Hoover 498 36 

Trustees 135 11 

Jesse Demi n t 164 76 

V. Winters & Son 5 15 



-State Association and Stewart $176 58 
Mrs. Wilson 22 00 



Total •. $1,224 96 



Bills Unpaid. 



Webbert & Co 

Pott, Young & Co 

S. J. Patterson & Co 

A. J. Holman & Co 

Dayton & Southeastern Ry 

J. W. Haley 

W. F. Schneider & Co 

Hitchcock & Walden, S. S. cuts 

Taxes for 1876 

E. W. Humphreys 



$31 19 

21 08 

12 00 

183 60 

30 00 

10 00 

96 

100 00 

114 40 

118 11 



II. B. Publishing House $246 00 

G. J. Roberts* Co 35 61 

O.J. Wait 39 10 

D. E. Millard 40 00 



Total. 



$982 05 



Total liabilities $23,379 10 

January 1 and 2, cash to profit 

and loss by former agent. .. 58 75 



-Interest due State Association, January 1, 1877, not given exact, not knowing 
dates of notes from which to make calculation. 



PUBLISHING HOUSE 



523 



SUMMARY. 



For the Year 1877. 



Receipts. 

Herald of Gospel Liberty $7,278 

Sunday- Softool Herald 2,889 

*Books 1,182 

Advertising 1,070 

Bent 1,488 

Lesson Leaves * 19 

Donations 2,515 

State Association 550 

Sundry loans 334 

Collections 91 

Total $17,422 



m 



Disbursements. 

Onindebtedness and interest .. 85,141 40 

Croy & McFarland 5,043 07 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 2,476 16 

H. R. Groneweg (bookbindery ) 141 68 

Allison, Smith & Johnson 68 37 

Books 537 56 

Wages , 1,529 34 

Postage 800 78 

Stamps 213 24 

Loans ( repaid). 284 28 

Sundry expenses 984 41 

December 31, 1877, cash balance. 201 86 

Total $17,422 15 



January 1, 1878, to June 15, 1878. 



Receipts. 

To cash on hand $201 86 

To collections, Thomas Hatton, 

per Heath 95 00 

To Herald of Gospel Liberty 4,772 42 

To Sunday -School Herald 1,501 73 

To books 585 85 

To Lesson Leaves 302 49 

To rent... 951 43 

To donations 854 74 

To advertising 505 00 

To loans 40 00 

Total $9,810 52 



Disbursements. 

Croy, McFarland & Co $2,655 45 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 1,395 25 

Book binder 149 45 

Allison, Smith & Johnson 14 88 

Onindebtedness 3,374 83 

Wages 737 24 

Stamps 277 70 

Postage 389 57 

Books 200 74 

Loans (repaid) 91 03 

Sundries 359 01 

June 15, cash on hand 165 37 

Total $9,810 52 



ITEMIZED ACCOUNT. 



Payments on Old Indebtedness from January 1, 1877, to June 15, 1878. 

Jan. 9. Croy & McFarland on due bill $100 00 

Jan. 9. Henry Webbert & Co. (carpenters) 3119 

Jan. 9. Jesse Demint, interest on renewals and small accounts 100 00 

Jan. 12. Croy & McFarland, balance on due bill 70 00 

Jan. 17. H. R. Groneweg, due bill 100 00 

Jan. 15. Pott, Young & Co., teachers' Bibles 2108 

Jan. 16. S. J. Patterson & Co., coal 4 00 

Jan. 19. A. J. Holman & Co., family Bibles '. 116 10 

Jan. 19. Dayton & Southeastern Railway Co 30 00 

Jan. 24. A. J. Holman & Co 67 50 

Jan. 26. Mead & Nixon Paper Co 260 00 

Feb. 2. J.W.Haley 10 00 

Feb. 2. Mead & Nixon Paper Co 19136 

Feb. 9. W. F. Schneider & Co , 96 

Feb. 8. E. W. Humphreys 1100 

Feb. 12. V. Winters & Son, bankers (J. Demint, security) 240 00 

Feb. 12. V. Winters & Son, bankers, discount on same 5 15 

Feb. 16. Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on note 300 00 

Feb. 21. Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on note. 50 00 

March 9. H. Y. Rush, due bill 65 00 

March 16. United Brethren Publishing House, note 314 10 

April 7. Jesse Demint, interest on Walters 's note 90 00 

April 14. S. J. Patterson & Co., coal omitted in former bill 8 00 

April 13. Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on note 300 00 

April 13. Renewal note, Mead & Nixon Paper Co 14 47 

April 28. Mead & Nixon Paper Co., notes 417 58 

May 4. Perry Stewart, interest on note 25 00 

-Receipts under the head of " Books " include local receipts and moneys realized 
from stamps. 



524 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



May- 


2. 


May 


15. 


May 


15. 


May 


18. 


May 


22. 


May 


29. 


June 


6. 


June 


6. 


June 


20. 


June 


20. 


July 


16. 


Aug. 


16. 


Aug. 


16. 


Aug. 


24. 


Sept. 


7. 


Oct. 


3. 


Oct. 


6. 


Oct. 


15. 


Oct. 


15. 


Nov. 


15. 


Nov. 


15. 


Nov. 


19. 


Nov. 


30. 


Dec. 


5. 


Dec. 


8. 


Dec. 


5. 


Dec. 


27 


Dec. 


29. 


Dec. 


31. 


Jan. 


4. 


Jan. 


9. 


Jan. 


9. 


Jan. 


9. 


Jan. 


9. 


Jan. 


9. 


Jan. 


16. 


Jan. 


16. 


Jan. 


17. 


Jan. 


17. 


Jan. 


25. 


Jan. 


28. 


Feb. 


4,6. 


Feb. 


II. 


Feb. 


11. 


Feb. 


18. 


Feb. 


18. 


Feb. 


18. 


Feb. 


25. 


Feb. 


26. 


March 4. 


March 11. 


March 26. 


April 


5. 


April 4, 8. 


April 


8. 


April 


10. 


April 


13. 


April 


18. 


April 


18. 


May 


20. 


May 


21. 


June 


12. 


June 


14. 



ITEMIZED ACCOUNT — CONCLUDED. 

Jesse Demint, on note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on note. 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

Hitchcock & Walden, Sunday-school cuts 

Jesse Demint, on note 

United Brethren Publishing House, on account 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co. , on note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

Jesse Demint, on note 

Taxes, personal and real, for the year 1876 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

Perry Stewart, balance on settlement 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on renewal note 

Jesse Demint, on note 

Elizabeth Wilson, balance on old note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note .'. 

Ohio State Association, interest to November 1, 187/ 

Jesse Demint, on note 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

Mead & Nixon Paper. Co., on note 

Jacob Fisher, interest 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., on renewal 

Mrs. J. A. Chrisman, interest 

Jesse Demint, on note 

E. W. Humphreys 

Neff & Bennett, stove bought i n 1875 

United Brethren Publishing House 

A. C. Hanger 

E. W. Humphreys 

Jesse Demint, on note 

Reeves McGilliard, interest 

Rachael Hoover, interest 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

Jesse Demint, balance on old note 

Jesse Demint, interest on old note 

A. R. Heath 

A. C. Hanger 

E. W. Humphreys 

United Brethren Publishing House 

Jesse Demint, interest on note 

United Brethren Publishing House, balance of account. 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

A. C. Hanger 

Rachael Hoover, interest 

E. W. Humphreys. 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 

Jesse Demint 

A. Dunlap, settlement of claim for premium 

Jesse Demint, balance of note 

Rachael Hoover, interest 

E. W. Humphreys, interest on trustee note 

A. C. Hanger, interest on trustee note 

Mead and Nixon Paper Co 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co., renewal note 

A. R. Heath 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co .' 

L. R. Pfoutz, collection fees 



Sum of direct payments. 



Sum of direct payments $8,516 23 

Amt. paid on scrip ( i n pub.) 258 16 

Amt. paid on stock int. (in pub.) 860 29 



Total $9,634 



' Indebtedness January 1, 1877 
Present indebtedness 



$100 00 


200 00 


15 00 


100 00 


100 00 


50 00 


2UU 00 


15 00 


79 00 


114 40 


14 47 


200 00 


10 33 


66 30 


14 47 


125 00 


22 00 


100 00 


12 10 


419 81 


40 00 


10 33 


100 00 


10 00 


12 40 


16 00 


50 00 


2 00 


12 25 


50 00 


40 00 


3 25 


100 00 


163 00 


200 00 


100 00 


10 33 


90 10 


6 00 


80 50 


4 00 


15 00 


120 00 


62 00 


26 00 


200 00 


6 20 


18 00 


200 00 


11 50 


200 00 


50 00 


11 00 


225 50 


300 00 


40 00 


40 00 


200 00 


6 20 


20 00 


300 00 


400 00 


34 00 


$8,516 23 


$23,379 10 


17,330 18 



Decrease $6,048 92 



Circulation of Publications. 



Herald of Gospel Liberty 

Sunday-Scliool Herald (June). 



5,520 

15,900 



Lesson Leaves ( June ) 

Herald, last issue of Dec, 1876 



15,000 
4,536 



:-ie PUBLISHING HOUSE 525 



LIABILITIES JUNE 15, 1878. 



Obligations by Note. 

Ohio State Association $5,728 88 I Mrs. Chrisman $100 00 

Reeves McGilliard 3,000 00 | -Mead & Nixon Paper Co 300 00 



Trustees 4,000 00 

Rachael Hoover 2,600 17 I Total $15,729 05 



Ohio State Association $285 18 

Reeves McGilliard 408 00 

Trustees 380 89 

Rachael Hoover 176 10 



Interest Unpaid. 

Mrs. Chrisman $6 00 

Total $1,256 17 



On Account. 

Mead & Nixon Paper Co $43123 I D.E.Millard $40 00 

O. J. Wait •• 39 10 | Total $510 33 

^Total liabilities $17,495 55 

Cash on hand 165 37 



Debt, less cash on hand $17,330 18 

N. Summerbell, Publishing Agent. 

Thus he took the public into his confidence, revealing the minutiae, of 
his business to the brotherhood with a fullness probably never surpassed 
by any other manager of the House. A feeble attempt was made to 
belittle the success of the business administration of Summerbell when 
he gave his public report in person, by saying that he made such a good 
showing because he had " had two fat seasons " ( the winters ) ; to which 
Summerbell made the instant rejoinder that it was the first time that 
he had known the Publishing House to have a "fat season," but now 
his critics admitted that he had had two. His figures were admitted to 
be accurate, and the picture they presented to be true. 

Editorials continued: 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of July 27, 1878: 

Unemployed — N . Summerbell. 

Address N. Summerbell, Washington and Ludlow streets, Day- 
ton, Ohio. 

Address all matter for the Herald or Publishing House to T. M. 
McWhinney, Sixth and Main streets, Dayton, Ohio. 

EDITOR'S VALEDICTION. 

To the many able correspondents and readers of the Herald, how 
can I bear to say farewell ! I was not chosen by the convention, but 
by the trustees, to pilot them through a terrible strait. When I 

-The $300.00 owed to Mead & Nixon was omitted in report of liabilities of 1877, 
which were therefore $23,379.10. The present indebtedness being $17,330.18, we have 
paid $9,634.68, but $3,585.76 was paid on interest and on scrip and stock. The princi- 
pal debt of $23,378.10 was therefore lessened but $6,048.92; that is, to $17,330.18. 



526 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

succeeded in this, my work being done, I hastened to lay down my 
commission at the convention which has heretofore made and 
unmade editors. That convention having referred such matters to 
the trustees, to them I resigned my trust. Though they at first 
declined to receive it, this has since been accomplished, and a suc- 
cessor chosen worthy of the people's largest confidence ; and I take 
a step not, I trust, down and out, but up and into the pulpit, my 
former place. I confess that to me there was a charm in the editor's 
chair. I loved to speak to the people. I have confidence in them, 
and believe that they have confidence in me. I know that when I 
tell them anything, they believe it ; and though a few may criticise, 
my brethren generally stand by me. This confidence in the people 
made me certain that our cause, if well managed, could survive the 
greatest depression. I love the Christian brotherhood, and thank 
them for what they have done. Writers have written without 
pay, agents have worked without premium, people have subscribed 
without club rates. The times were dark, the clouds were threat- 
ening, many heavy merchants went down in every community, but 
beyond the storm's dark clouds came light, and louder than the 
tempest and deeper than the storm came a voice of encouragement 
forever swelling. It was the voice of the people. I loved to serve 
them, I loved to advise and encourage them, I loved to answer and in- 
struct them ; but the end has come, and so 1 say to the readers of the 
Herald, Farewell. I also owe a word to our able writers who have 
continued to send articles, accompanied with kind words, when for 
want of room few of their many fine contributions were published. 
Others more busy have written when required, and thus, without 
expense, the columns have been filled with a succession of able arti- 
cles from the best pens. Even many who had good reason to chide 
me have sent letters of encouragement. A few have complained of 
the liberty of the columns and the latitude of the writers. These as 
little knew of the many well-written communications laid by or 
returned as they understood the true value of freedom to be heard. 
The Herald has invited well- written articles favoring theories unpop- 
ular and unknown, and from such articles, while rejected in the 
main, the readers have derived. much valuable information. While 
the Christians as a people are straightly orthodox, they do not forget 
that there is much knowledge beyond the mountains which bound the 
narrow gardens of popular theology, in which many faithful orthodox 
followers of Jesus are lovingly laboring, looking for the day dawning 
when things which they now see faintly in the twilight will be made 
plain. 

We would not be true to our Lord, nor to those brethren who are 
doing more than all others for the salvation of the world, if we put 
our light in a lantern and turned the dark side to their path, lest they 
should see something wrong. Other men have a right to see as well 



VALEDICTION AS EDITOR 527 

as we. And there are many ministers in modern sects who love the 
truth as well as we, and are willing to see both sides of a subject. Of 
course this does not imply that the Herald should be the passive 
medium equally of truth and error. Truth being more abundant 
and plain, a few lines can turn aside whole currents of error ; while 
truth's floods flow eternally on, washing over those who with wisps 
vainly strive to sweep back its onflowing deluge. It is also to be 
remembered that truth itself is often so burdened with error that an 
enemy's well-served artillery of thought is preferred by the heavenly 
Father as the easiest way to batter down the barriers to the progress 
of truth ; for no sect holds truth alone unmingled with error. 

I hope that the Herald may never be less free or less evangelical 
than now. To say that I thank the writers but faintly expresses the 
feelings of my heart. I love them, and long to meet them ; so, cor- 
respondents, farewell. The hardest of all is to say farewell to the 
ministers, whose constant labor is to win souls to Christ. These have, 
too often, double duty and little pay. They form at once skirmish 
lines, do picket duty, and are often forced to forage on the enemy 
whom they are endeavoring to change to friends. Christian minis- 
ters, I exhort you to feel the importance of your mission, which is to 
win men back to God and to obedience to his Word. The Christians 
thus herald the hope of the Protestant world with the only doctrine 
that eclipses Romanism. We confess the need of truth as well as 
they. The only question is, Where shall we find it ? We all want 
an infallible guide. They propose the pope ; you the Bible. We all 
desire the true church. For this they propose the Roman Church ; 
you the good of all churches. They claim the "fathers"; you the 
grandfathers — that is, the apostles, the fathers of the "fathers." 
They rejoice in the name Catholic; you in the name Christian. 
They fellowship all Catholics; you all Christians. They obey the 
Pope; you obey Jesus. The gospel as you preach it is the true 
Protestant doctrine. In uniting upon it is the only scriptural or 
reasonable hope of restoring union to the church or strength to the 
Protestant world. All can unite on the Christian principles ; all will 
unite on nothing else. Go on, then, brethren; your gospel is the 
gospel of "glory to God and good will to men." It is good news not 
to sinners only, but to saints also. Your mission is glorious, and I 
long to share it with you. You carry with you the gospel preached 
by Jesus, and preach it now as it was preached of old— the same 
God loving all, the same Son dying for men, the same Spirit comfort- 
ing your hearts, the same message that Christ died for all, the same 
fatherhood of God and brotherhood of men ; and if men charge you 
with error, the same charges apply to Jesus. 

Have you no creed but the Bible ? So had he ! Do you fellowship 
all Christians? So did he! What he taught, you teach! What he 
said, you say ! What he omitted, you omit ! Let this be your com- 



528 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

fort: Jesus has promised to be with you. He will bless you, and 
crown your labors with success. Advance, then, Christian ministers, 
relying upon Jesus to give success to his own word. Resolve that, 
by his grace, you will do more work for God the coming year than 
in any former year of your life. Feel that you have a mission, and 
resolve, by God's help, that you will fill it; and believe me your 
faithful friend while, as editor, I bid you farewell. 

Work, Christian, work, 

Till thy day's work be done; • 
Scatter thy seed with 

The fast rolling sun. 
Waste not thy words 

With the time-serving band; 
Work, work for Jesus, 

Obey his command. 

The lessees, Croy & McFarland, I can commend as well qualified 
for their calling ; and both lessees and employees I commend as fully 
equal to the average of good mechanics, and, as I trust, Christian 
gentlemen. I am confident that work intrusted to their care will be 
well and faithfully done. With a feeling of sadness I. realize that 
our daily intercourse shall cease, but now bid them farewell. 

H. R. Groneweg, the bookbinder, is doing a very good business, 
highly satisfactory to all who deal with him. 

Brother Warren Bookwalter will probably long continue his faith- 
ful labors as principal assistant in the office. I am confident that 
with fair encouragement he will more and more satisfactorily manage 
the Clerk's Department. He is now perfecting an alphabetical index 
of subscribers' names, which will not only facilitate business, but 
add much in preventing mistakes in accounts with subscribers. 
Brother Demint, whom I employed to assist me, especially in the 
out-door business, has been of great benefit as a shrewd anct careful 
business man; and though he will probably leave with me, he will 
continue his care as a member of the Board of Trustees and Execu- 
tive Committee. Both have been faithful in duty, and have merited 
praise ; and I thus bid them farewell. 

The trustees, as a body, will compare favorably with the best 
representative men of the Church east or west. They were chosen 
not alone for the assistance which they rendered, but because the 
people have confidence in them. The money they loaned, some of 
them borrowing from the bank at ten per cent, for that purpose and 
lending it at eight, should not be urged to their injury, thus making 
virtue a vice, but, as it is, to their credit. With them I have had no 
trouble, and Brother McWhinney will have none. Thus I bid them 
farewell. 



VALEDICTION AS EDITOR 529 

In leaving the office, I assure the people every thing has been 
arranged for their best interests. Take it for all in all, the prospects 
for the Publishing House were never more hopeful. The business is 
all in good running order, and every department is made to pay a 
small but constantly increasing revenue. I sincerely hope that all 
may second the effort of the incoming editor, and run the subscrip- 
tion list up to at least ten thousand. Sufficient is now conditionally 
signed to decrease the liabilities to ]ess than $14,000. Fill up the 
lists before the convention, that Brother McWhinney may report a 
Publishing House all our own. 

Bents and rooms. We have saved something in rents the past 
year in this way: On coming into the office I found a fine suite of 
editorial rooms on the second floor. To increase our rents, I occupied 
a small room and gave the front room up for the store, and then, 
with other rooms, we rented the fine store room down-stairs, and thus 
increased the income by rents $500. In re-renting, by an arrange- 
ment with the lessees, we have now retained for an additional room 
for the editor the large committee room formerly occupied by D. E. 
Millard in preparing his father's biography ; so that, without decreas- 
ing the rents, the editor will have an approximation to former accom- 
modations. I assure the people that the Publishing House is theirs, 
and that they must manage it. I most earnestly urge them to give 
their united and hearty support to the incoming editor. Though we 
have passed the straits, we must remember that, as eternal vigilance 
is the price of liberty, so constant care is the only warrant for safety 
and success. 

Faith and princijjles. Our cause is the cause of heaven, and we 
have no right to resign it, betray it, forsake or neglect it. This is 
our mission ! We are the advocates of a purely Biblical religion ; a 
religion most readily worded in Biblical language. We advocate the 
Bible as the only universally accepted rule of faith and duty; we 
advocate Christ as the only true leader and lawgiver ; we advocate 
the Christian name as the only universally acceptable name for God's 
people ; we advocate universal charity and Christian union, with free 
Christian fellowship and communion for all the followers of Jesus; 
we advocate all these with charity and fellowship. Still, for those 
who, with us, "seeing through a* glass darkly," may yet hold on to 
some earthly errors, only requiring that they shall love and serve the 
Lord, we advocate the full pardon and salvation of every sinner who 
ceases to sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and obeys him, 
independent of what the opinions of such a saved soul may be upon 
minor matters of scholastic theology. These are the great funda- 
mental principles of religious truth advocated by Christians from the 
beginning, or the days of the Savior, and now principally repre- 
sented by us in making character the only test of fellowship ; while 
too many make peculiarity of faith or form of baptism the test, not 

34 



530 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

realizing that the wickedest man in the world may hold orthodox 
opinions and practice any mode of baptism, while only the good can 
show a Christian character. These Christian principles, intrusted to 
us by the Lord, we have no right to resign, betray, or abandon ; but 
it should be our chief care to work for the Lord and humanity, and 
sustain them by our lives, our fortunes, and our whole Christian 
influence. And so I bid you all farewell. N. Summerbell. 

CHARITY. 

My final word to the brethren is, "Put on charity." The world 
has been governed by force for six thousand years, and has not pros- 
pered. The church has placed its tests at the door for fifteen hundred 
years, and has failed of its high hopes. Now let us try charity. 
Charity is the soul of ah the commandments, and the brightest jewel 
in the crown of Christ ; yet practically as a church-power it has been 
ignored. The most important maxim has been forgotten, the second 
commandment omitted. Charity is the path to truth, and peace, and 
heaven, open from every erring point in the path of life, ever leading 
to peace. God says, "The end [design] of the commandment [in all- 
law of God] is charity." Beautifully the text reads, "Love to God 
and love to man." "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the 
commandments is, Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is one Lord ; and. 
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the 
first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment 
greater than these." But the text of the tongue is horribly fulfilled : 
"Therewith bless we God, even the Father, and therewith curse we 
men which are made after the similitude of God." And we place over 
the altar "praise God," and at the door tests to keep away men. 
Men, we say, are enemies of God, and to be put away. Meet them 
with tests ! bind them by disciplines ! hold them off unless they agree, 
to our thoughts! The angels' gospel of "peace and good will to 
men," is made to read, "Peace to men of good will." And charity 
for freedom of thought is made heresy. Let us try charity for men. 
Remember that God will have mercy and not sacrifice ; and love is 
the fulfilling of the law. Remember that charity is greater than 
faith or hope. Remember that charity is for the erring, who alone 
need charity. Remember that the dominant church during all the 
dark ages was renowned for the opposite of charity. The charier in 
her hand was filled with the blood of the saints. Remember that the 
second commandment, namely, love to man, has been uniformly 
excluded from every dominant creed of every wordly church during 
all the ages. The first commandment is enthroned in the first article 
of the creed, but no creed but the creed of God has, second, "Love 
thy neighbor as thyself." It is found in no church polity that the; 



CHARITY 531 

alien Samaritan is to be loved as ourselves, except he be converted 
and thus become one of the elect. But the second commandment, 
"Love thy neighbor as thyself," is illustrated by fencing the church 
round with metaphysical human dogmas, which are arrayed as a 
regiment of soldiers, ready to charge bayonets on any man, who, 
simply as a man, stands afar off and cries, ' ' God be merciful to me 
a sinner." To receive all that can be proselyted to a sect, and adopt 
the shibboleth of a party, is no practice of charity, as even publicans 
and sinners love those who submit to their rules. Remember that 
the opposite of charity built all the inquisitions, kindled all the 
martyr fires, divided all the Protestants into multitudinous sects. 
Remember that the plea of keeping the faith pure has proved a 
delusion, as the most exclusive creeds mark the most unevangelical 
sects. Let us, as Christians, give the God-given principle of charity 
one fair trial. To do so we must have charity for men, simply as 
men. This is God's rule in all the Bible. [ See the law to Noah, 
Gen. 9:5. See the law, Deut. 6:4-8. See Jesus' answer, Mark 12 : 
29, 30.] Man, as a creature of God, claims our love. Thus we 
must commence. Charity only for our own is not enough. But this 
must be improved also. Try charity here. To do so, never speak or 
write against a brother without praying for charity. Fill all your 
communications for the Herald, on whatever subjects, with love. 
Never impugn a brother's motives. Never sit in judgment on his 
faith. If it is all that he has, do not destroy that little by abuse. 
Remember that opinions are very plenty and cheap, but a man's soul 
is precious in the sight of God. Do not use harsh, censorious lan- 
guage in speaking of a brother. Cultivate good will to men. Re- 
member that they are the objects of God's care. Do not readily join 
the proud and selfish in denouncing the weak. Be not quick to 
judge, nor too ready to condemn. Weigh the matter well, and ex- 
amine the circumstances, and consider the causes. Remember that 
there is no law against charity. Charity brings peace. Charity pre- 
vents quarrels. Charity avoids violence. Charity relieves of law- 
suits. Charity prevents war. Charity is opposed to cruelty. Charity 
is heavenly in its birth, godly in its nature, Christlike in its exercise 
— the great crowning Christian grace which Satan cannot know. 
Read carefully and often, I. Cor. 13. James says that the devil 
believes. We know that Satan can talk well, and even quote Scrip- 
ture. Demons obey Jesus at times. But we never heard of Satan 
having charity. It belongs only to the good. I exhort my brethren 
to put on charity. Bear with one another, and in all things manifest 
a childlike Christian spirit. 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty, August 3, 1878, which closed his labor as 
editor, appeared the following, together with other editorials: 

Unemployed — N. Summerbell. 



532 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



EXPLANATION. 



Brother Mc Whinney's work as editor is deferred to the next paper, 
namely, August 10th. His understanding, when departing for Kan- 
sas, was that his work would commence on the first day of August, 
and not on the first paper. The first paper for August goes to press 
the last week in July. Therefore Brother M. requested the former 
editor to edit this paper. This, therefore, will not be his first paper, 
but the connecting link between the two eras, which will account in 
some respect for its neutral character. The next paper will be edited 
and made up wholly under the supervision of the new editor, and the 
people may look for a grand paper. N. S. 

DOING GOOD. 

"Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy 
holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, 
and speaketh the truth in his heart." 

It is known to all that men are to be judged, not by their faith, 
but by their works. Yet good works are never made a test of fellow- 
ship, but sound faith. The church suffers constant annoyance from 
fossil bigots, because they are judged sound in faith. How much 
better it would be, were such men compelled to show commensurate 
good works ! The world waits not for the personal glory of great 
men, but for good works. 

"So let our lips and lives express 
The holy gospel we profess ; 
So let our works and virtues shine, 
To prove the doctrine all divine. 

"Thus shall we best proclaim abroad 
The honors of our Savior-God ; 
When his salvation reigns within, 
And grace subdues the power of sin." 

It has been said that he who causes two spears of grass to grow 
where but one grew before, is a benefactor of the world. How much 
more is this true of one who, like the blessed Master, goes about 
doing good ! Such an one makes two smiles where there was but one 
before, and two joys where there were none before. How different 
the path of such an one from that of the man who scatters tares, 
thorns, and thistles in the way ! In Spain a custom was once encour- 
aged for travelers who ate an apple, peach, pear, plum, or cherry, to 
plant the pit by the roadside for future generations. So should we 
be doing good every day, planting seeds of kindness by every way. 
The field is the world, and the differences between the forest wilds 
and the harvest-fields are not so great as that between the animal 



DOING 533 

man's heart and the Christian man's heart. What a thought, that 

man may aid in subduing the human wilderness and assist in planting 

it with trees of righteousness ! Think in how many ways you can do 

good. A poor widow was sick, and in the dark night, amid her hours 

of pain, heard the distant call of the traveler whose way was crossed 

by the dangerous waters. She called her little boy, and he, with his 

lantern, went to the fording place, and the traveler crossed in safety. 

Ten thousand avenues of good-doing are open daily to those willing 

to do good. The pleasant good morning, the kiss for mother, the 

helping hand at wood or water, the kind word to subordinates, afford 

golden opportunities. 

i 

"He that has soothed a widow's woe, 
Or dried an orphan's tears, doth know 
There's something here of heaven." 

Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see 
your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." The 
apostle said, "Be careful to maintain good work." Faith's fancy 
observatory is always crowded, but the needed good-works labora- 
tory is never full. Yet it is in good works that we resemble Jesus 
most, and by good works men most readily prove the heavenly char- 
acter of their faith. The world groans after good works. It is what 
Jesus did that endears him to us. 

"I think, when I read that sweet story of old, 
When Jesus was here among men, 
How he called little children as lambs to his fold; 
I should like to have been with them then. 

"I wish that his hands had been placed on my head, 
That his arms had been thrown around me, 
And that I might have seen his kind look when he said, 
'Let the little ones come unto me.' " 

Every day we should try to do some good thing worthy the 
name of Jesus ; every day make some sorrowing heart happy. So 
live that Jesus may say to you, " Well done, good and faithful serv- 
ant." God said, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and 
if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." 

"Learn to administer to a mind diseased ; 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ; 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain ; 
And, with some sweet, oblivious antidote, 
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff*, 
Which weighs upon my heart." 



534 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Dr. Summerbell served as editor and agent about a year and a half, 
and turned the tide of finances decidedly in favor of the Publishing 
House. By the aid of donations, arid the profits of the business which 
he secured, he left it in much better condition than he found it, ( as the 
foregoing report shows), and with a business that was rapidly making 
money. He was induced to resign his position largely by the importun- 
ities of his wife, who was opposed to his being subjected to the constant 
cares of business, and the many petty annoyances of editing a denomi- 
national journal. He was too magnanimous to resent the unkindnesses 
of brethren in little things; but, at the same time, the coming in contact 
with them preyed upon his life and depressed his spirits. An opposition 
paper had promptly been established on his becoming editor ; but it had 
soon been discontinued, and all important signs and omens indicated 
well-secured prosperity for the Publishing House. 

The following, which we copy from a manuscript preserved by his 
wife, probably a letter to her, reveals a little of the inner life of Sum- 
merbell, as most writings fail to do — 

WAITING FOR THE BOAT. 

It is a quarter past one, Wednesday morning, October 22. I am 
at Ripley, at the house of Mrs. Ridge way, widow of Charles Ridge- 
way, waiting for a boat 'down the river to Cincinnati, as I desire to 
reach there by 9 in the morning, so as to take the 9 : 40 train to 
Dayton, and arriving there at noon, do office work till night, then 
take the Chicago train on the way to the Indiana State Conference 
to meet near Kokomo. The Southern Ohio Conference closed its 
annual session here to-night, and most of the members are now 
wrapt in slumber. Elder Josiah Knight, in the room with me, 
breathes heavily, as he lies in bed, enjoying refreshing sleep. The 
people have retired to rest, and I am alone. We had a good confer- 
ence. The churches reported 5,128 members. Number of Her- 
alds taken, 61. Number of Sunday-school scholars, 1,062. The 
conference received last night, that is, four hours ago, nine fine-look- 
ing young men to its ministry, three or four of whom will proceed 
forthwith to the Biblical School. Others here are going to Union 
Christian College. May God bless every one of them, and make 
them all very useful. We succeeded in obtaining about one hundred 
new subscribers for the Herald at this conference, and resolutions 
were passed strongly in the interests of the Herald. The merit of 
the paper was conceded, and a vigorous effort is expected largely to 
increase its list of subscribers The preaching at this conference was 
good generally. It was done by Daugherty, Humphrey, Simonton, 
Timmons, Summerbell, and others, in the Christian, Methodist, and 
Presbyterian churches. I was much gratified to see the brother, N. 
Devore, father of Arthur, the Union Christian College graduate, 
able to be out; also our beloved brother, Wm. Pangburn, present 
part of the time, though feeble ; the two graduates of Union Chris- 
tian College — James, the son of Peter Devore, and Arthur, the son 
of Nicholas Devore. Arthur is able, and an efficient help in the 
business. The clock strikes three, but the night is still, and the 
people are slumbering quietly, and I will relate a story. Many years 
ago, when the owner of this house was alive, two planters from the 
South visited him, and his accommodations being on a large scale, 



CHRISTIAN COURAGE 535 

they tarried with him over night. All were wealthy, and all had 
been wicked; but Ridge way, a large, fine-looking man, had been 
converted, and did not half enjoy the company, as he was meditat- 
ing whether it would not be rude in him to propose to these worldly 
men the subject of family prayer. Yet, being a true Christian, he 
could not bring his mind to dispense with it. So, finally, he said, 
"Shall we have prayer?" And all kneeled down, while he prayed 
fervently. On arising, they came up to him, and, grasping him by 
the hand, congratulated him on being a Christian, and expressed 
their regret that they had not known it before, as they might have 
spent the evening much more profitably in religious conversation, 
and also they might have enjoyed each others' society much more ; 
for both had been converted. Brother Ridgeway told me of this 
himself, some twenty years ago, to illustrate the folly and loss of 
being ashamed promptly to confess the Savior. It is near three 
o'clock, and no boat is yet heard. It will probably be as late as four. 
The packets on the Ohio, coming, as this one does, from high up the 
river, are very uncertain ; and I have often waited at the wharf half 
■or all the night, waiting their uncertain time. The packets which 
have shorter runs have more certain hours. Two will start from 
here in the morning, but will not be in time for me. Night is a good 
time for meditation, especially when waiting alone. I am anxious to 
be gone, and think that I have much to do ; but were death to cut me 
suddenly down, the world would progress just the same, without my 
Avork. This conference was very largely attended, and many people 
patiently stood up most of the time, though the church is large. 
Brother. A. J. Abbott is the pastor. He is the father of E. C. Abbott, 
of New Hampshire. Brother E. W. Humphreys will probably meet 
me at the boat to-night, but the large company of ministers and 
delegates will go down on the later morning boat. . Several delegates 
are here from the Cincinnati Church ; and, indeed, there are delegates 
from many of the river villages along the Ohio. This Southern 
Ohio is among the last of the conferences this year ; so that confer- 
ence season will soon be over. 

Having resigned all connection with the Publishing House, in July, 
1878, he soon took charge of the church at Enon, Ohio. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of November 

G, 1880 : 

BAPTISM. 

It is hinted in the Herald that many are weary of the subject of 
''Baptism." I compile the following list of passages in the New 
Testament that they may mark and avoid them (and that others 
may find and read them ) : 

Matt. 3: 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, 16; 21: 25; Mark 1: 4, 9; 10: 39; 
16: 16; Luke 3: 7, 12, 21; 7: 30; John 1: 25, 33; 3: 22, 23, 26; 
4:1,2; 10:40; Acts 1:5, 22; 2:38,41; 8:12,13,16,36,38; 
9:18; 10:47,48; 16:15, 33; 18:8; 19:3, 5; 22:16; Rom. 6:3, 
4; I. Cor. 1 : 13, 14, 16, 17; 10:2; 12:13; 15:29; Eph. 4:5; Col. 
.2:12; compare 3:1; Gal. 3 : 27 ; Heb. 6 : 2 ; I. Peter 3:21. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



536 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

From Enon, Ohio, he removed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, taking 
charge of the Middle Street Church there on November 4, 1880. Like 
some of the other enterprises in which he had been engaged, this church, 
while vigorous and spiritually of good tone, had passed through some 
unfortunate financial experiences, and had somewhat lost prestige in the 
city. The brethren and sisters w T ere, however, a noble class of Chris- 
tians, most faithful to the cause, and Summerbell's pastorate was one 
of great success along spiritual, financial, and popular lines. 

The following are some of his thoughts on 

HOLINESS. 

Let us remember that Jesus' object in saving is not merely to pre- 
vent suffering. If it were, the floods of divine love would quench all 
the fires of torment in a moment;- but his object is to save from sin. 
God is holy, and to live in his presence we must be holy. That is 
why it is said, "God cannot look upon sin"; "he is of purer eyes 
than to behold iniquity"; "blessed are the pure in heart: for they 
shall see God." 

The argument is that, as natural uncleanness is offensive to pure 
people, so, and infinitely more, is impurity of heart offensive to God 
and sin horrible in his sight; so that, to approach God, or expect to 
live, we must be holy. 

The questions of the most vital importance to the church are those 
of vital piety, of every day life, of our thoughts, feelings, motives, 
desires, and character. Such is the question of holiness. Every 
person communes with his own soul daily : Am I good enough ? 
Can I be better ? Am I justified ? Some express their feelings by 
the hymn, 

U1 T is a point I long to know,— 
Oft it causes anxious thought : 
Do I love the Lord, or no? 
Am I his, or am I not?" 

Elder Simon Clough says, "I desire to know the whole will of my 
heavenly Master concerning myself, and to do my whole duty ; and 
this is the sincere desire of every "true and devout Christian." 

Yet the orthodox world is divided, some supposing that we may 
and should live pure Christian lives, and some supposing it impossi- 
ble, and that the Lord does not command entire holiness, but a life 
of easy indulgence, friendly to the Savior. While many indulge in 
little more than the name "Christian," and jolly ministers openly 
advocate carnal pleasures and repudiate holiness, one of the things 
for which I have all my life been thankful is that no man can say 
that God, or Christ, or the Bible gives any license whatever to sin 
or sinful indulgence. 



HOLINESS 53 7 

Christ is our example, and even the traitor Judas said, "I have 
betrayed innocent blood." Had Christ indulged in the least laxity 
of life in public or private, this confession had never been made ; and 
Christ is our life, example, pattern. 

Jehovah and the Prince of Darkness divide the world. There are 
only two classes — the servants of sin and the servants of right- 
eousness. 

Thousands of people profess religion, yea, even preach, who make 
no profession of even a desire for present holiness. 

Bible phrases show how the term is used: Holy Father, holy 
child Jesus, Holy Ghost, Holy Scriptures, holy city, holy brethren, 
holy women, the Holy One, holy prophets, holy covenant, holy 
ground, holy place, holy commandment, holy temple, holy priest- 
hood, holy nation, holy mount, holy conversation, holy calling. Does 
God require Christians to be holy, and can they be? or does he 
license them to lead a common worldly life ? 

All men admire holiness abstractly and in others. Parents admire 
it in their children ; and when they are dead, children are happy in 
the memory of it in their parents. It is a relief to think of Abel, 
Enoch, Joseph, Samuel, John, and others mentioned in the Bible of 
whom no sin is recorded. We feel corresponding shame when we 
think of the fall of Noah, of David, and of Peter. We evidently 
think that they could and should have avoided their sins ; that they 
were guilty for not remaining pure and holy. Those who fall short 
of purity, do so far destroy confidence in human character; while 
those who live pure and holy lives command respect and confidence, 
and hold society together, and build up the church. 

Gibbon, the skeptic, in his "Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- 
pire," says: 

A candid, but rational, inquiry into the progress and establishment of 
Christianity may be considered as a very essential part of the history 
of the Roman Empire. While that great body was invaded by open 
violence, or undermined by slow decay, a pure and humble religion 
gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence aud 
obscurity, derived new vigor from opposition, and finally erected the 
triumphal banner of the cross on the ruins of the capital. . . . Our curi- 
osity is naturally prompted to inquire by what means the Christian faith 
obtained so formidable a victory over the established religions of the 
earth. 

This inquiry he thus answers : 

The success of the Christians sprung, — 

1. From the inflexible, and, if we may use the expression, the intol- 
erant zeal of the Christians. 

2. The doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional circum- 
stance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth. 

3. The miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive church. 

4. The pare and austere morals of the Christians. 



538 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

While endeavoring to explain away the pagan persecution, Gib- 
bon eloquently remarks concerning the blessed character of the 
Christians : 

If we seriously consider the purity of the Christian religion, the 
sanctity of its moral precepts, and the innocent as well as the austere 
lives of the greater number of those who, during the first ages, embraced 
the faith of the gospel, we should naturally suppose that so benevolent 
a doctrine would have been received with due reverence, even by the 
unbelieving world ; that the learned aud the polite, however they might 
deride the miracles, would have esteemed the virtues of the new sect ; 
and that the magistrates, instead of persecuting, would have protected 
an order of men who yielded the most passive obedience to the laws, 
though they declined the active cares of war and government. 

So does the learned skeptic's testimony to the character of the early 
Christians agree with the Bible. Edward Gibbon was a child of 
fortune, born in 1737, entered college at 15, and became a convert 
to Rome. After eighteen months he gave up popery, and finally 
devoted his life to literature and luxury, ease and pleasure, and by 
his learning, and eloquence, and application, became great, but was 
never converted to Christ. And such is his testimony to the holy 
character of the first Christians. 

Christians are called, by the holy appellatives of "The Church," 
"The Lamb's Bride," "Christ's Body," and "The Temple of the 
Lord." Hundreds of Scriptures speak of Christians as holy. They 
declare that without holiness no man shall see God. 

Therefore, I conclude that we should all seek after holiness. If we 
strive after holiness, and come short, we may ask for pardon; but 
how can we ask pardon, if we do not try to live holy ? 

How pleasant must be the reflection of the soul that lives above 
sin ! He is free from stain. He has conquered sin by faith in Christ, 
pleasing God. Oh, if every one were honest, faithful, truthful, 
charitable, kind, and merciful! Remember, every sin injures our 
conscience, destroys confidence, hurts religion, weakens our influ- 
ence, leaves a scar, pleases Satan, and wounds Jesus. 

I desire to advocate holiness, because I think that the Bible teaches 
it ; because a want of faith in the feasibility of holiness leads men to 
compromise with evil and yield easily to sin. Then, instead of 
repenting of their sins, they flatter themselves that such sins are 
unavoidable; and instead of forsaking their easily besetting sins, 
they nurse and defend them, and christen them "Christian." 

Whether we can live free from sin may be a question ; but there is 
no question on the following propositions : 

1. We can try. 

2. In trying, we will live better than if we do not try. 

3. There is no sin that we commit but we can avoid at the time, 
if we will. 



HOLINESS 539 

The white garments we are told to keep unspotted. Shall we tell 
Jesus that we could not ? or could, but did not ? 

To the doctrine of entire holiness some may object. 

Suppose infidels were to charge that the God of the Christians does 
not forbid all sin, but permitted a little now and then ; or that Christ 
does not require Christians to leave off all sins, but only the grosser 
sins ; or that the Scriptures do not ask men to serve God and be good 
all the time, but to serve God sometimes and sin sometimes,— would 
we not all be indignant, and deny the statement ? Certainly. 

If imperfect holiness were commanded, what would Christians do 
more than others ? The saloon-keeper does not want his customer to 
drink ail the time ; the thief does not desire to steal from every one ; 
the wicked desire some limit to wickedness. 

There is no intelligent sinner, slaver, burglar, sabbath breaker, 
counterfeiter, gambler, tippler, but could join a church where they 
justify loose morals. In truth, there are some such corporations 
called "churches," but the wicked men have no confidence in such 
ministers. 

But I would not press objections to extremes. Perhaps some may 
not claim liberty to sin, but only to be comfortable, to be at ease, to 
be joyful, and not overly earnest ; but then what of those scriptures : 

"Woe to them that are at ease ! " 

"I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art luke- 
warm,' 1 etc. 

' ' Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. " 

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye 
yourselves like unto men." 

"Lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us." 

What of Christianity as a struggle, a race, a fight ? 

The expression, "Called to be saints," is not becoming to a careless, 
jolly, wine-drinking, card-playing Christian, who does not profess to 
be a saint, but only a "good fellow." 

The promises are to the saints. "To all the holy brethren," "to 
the saints at Jerusalem," "to the saints which are at Ephesus," is 
common Bible language. To these are the promises, and to those 
who follow after holiness. 

Every name for Christians is sacred to holiness : 

Saints signifies those wholly devoted to God. 

Holiness, separation from all that is contrary to God. 

Christians, persons who have the spirit and character of Christ. 

Church, the Lord's people, called out from the world. 

"So let our lips and lives express 
The holy gospel we profess; 
So let our works and virtues shine, 
To prove the doctrine all divine*" 



540 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Christ's precepts as to holiness are the perfection of beauty. They 
go down to the roots, and deal with the desires— the adultery of the 
eye, the murder of the heart. James says, in breaking one com- 
mandment, we break all. Beware of the leaks. The gospel requires 
a man to be born again, to become a new creature with the Spirit of 
Christ. The holy man thinketh no evil, seeketh no vengeance, pray- 
eth for his enemies, and does good for evil. 

"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings; 
. . . cease to do evil; learn to do well," "to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. " 

"God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." 
(I. Thes. 4c: 7.) 
We are the "habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. 2 : 22.) 
Our body is the "temple of the Holy Ghost." (I. Cor. 6 : 19.) 
"These things write I unto you, that ye sin not." (I. John 2:1.) 
Christ, beside the absence of all vice, developed into continuous 
devotion ; all the time full of love to God, goodness to men, kindness, 
prayer, humility, patience, mildness, and forbearance. 

"Ah! how benevolent and kind! 
How mild! how ready to forgive! 
Be this the temper of our mind, 

And these the rules by which we live." 

What sweetness in speech ! what purity in manner ! what wisdom 
in his doctrine! what mildness in his replies! • All-powerful, yet 
meek, strong, dying, breathing life, scattering bread of life to the 
ends of the world by hands nailed to the cross ! 

Heaven is heaven, because it is holy. When we sing of it, we 
sing of its holiness, its white robes, the righteousness of the saints, 
and the angelic choir, which sings, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord 
God." The white robes are spotless; everything is pure; immortal 
because sinless. All is beautiful, all is charity, all is content, all is 
pure, all is holy. 

"Heaven is a place of rest from sin; 
But all who hope to enter there 
Must here that holy life begin 
Which shall their souls for heaven prepare." 

The following letter to his wife, written during her temporary absence 
with his little granddaughter, Mary Edna Heath, illustrates his affec- 
tion and conscientiousness: 

New Bedford, Mass., June 13, 1881. 

Monday, 13. Home, well, weather dark and cold. Keep thinking of 
darling, listen for her prattle, wait for her call to breakfast, for her clasp 
of my finger. 

Yesterday was a clear Sunday. Sunday school good. Congregation 
moderate. Prayer-meeting at night moderate; number less than usual 
— about one hundred and fifty. 



CHARACTER 541 

Many, all who could, asked for you and darling. 
None of our friends have died. 

Rev. Butler, Methodist, of the Bethel Church, has had a shock of 
palsy. 
My journey home was a strain of anxiety. 

1. Delayed one day by trustees. 

2. Disappointed at Indianapolis in not meeting you, but got your 
letter. Thanks. 

3. Rains flooded Pennsylvania, and washouts delayed the trains. 

4. New York, two o'clock, Saturday morning; New Bedford, six, 
evening — a long, tedious railroad ride. 

5. Why take it? Because I did not want to get in Sunday morning 
by the boat. 

6. Almost sorry I did not. I could have (1) visited Greenpoint and 
( 2 ) had a day in New York ; ( 3 ) roomed and dressed on the boat ; ( 4 ) 
got into New Bedford at eight, all ready for Sunday school. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

On Sunday afternoon, September 4, 1881, he preached, at his church at 
New Bedford, a memorial sermon for Austin Craig. The writers of the 
book afterward published as a " Memorial " for him, failed to understand 
his spiritual and intellectual greatness, probably because of their own 
comparative lack of sympathy with him ; hence, we make the follow- 
ing copious extracts from the sermon of Dr. N. Summerbell : 

REV. DR. CRAIG. 

Austin Craig was born at Peapack, New Jersey, in 1824. He was 
the only son of Moses and Rachel Craig — people in good circum- 
stances and of more than ordinary respectability and intelligence, 
warm hearted, and active members of the Christian Church. They 
raised two children, Austin and Emma, both beautiful in person and 
character. Both the children early embraced religion, and had the 
love and admiration of all who knew them. 

Previous to having a church, Moses Craig's large farmhouse was 
open for preaching, and afterwards a building sufficient to accom- 
modate a large congregation was erected. Such ministers preached 
there as William Lane. Simon Clough, Jonathan Thompson, Mrs. A. 
Roberts, Philetus Roberts, Moses Cummings, and N. Summerbell. 
The favorite preacher was Elder Goff. 

Austin was educated at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, where 
he was considered a very superior and remarkable student, and much 
beloved, but declined to take his degree: yet he returned and con- 
tinued his studies some years after, passing all the regular classes, 
being then regarded as a very superior scholar and a very interesting- 
young man. 

I lived at that time fourteen miles distant, and he was afterwards 
much at my house, and was always known as remarkable for Chris- 
tian conduct, gentlemanly deportment, chaste language, and meek 
demeanor; much given to severe study and strict Christian duty. 
He was especially fond of perusing the Scriptures in the original 



542 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

languages of Hebrew and Greek, and it was from him that I took 
my first lessons in the languages. 

His life has been a joy to his parents and sister and very profit- 
able to the church, of which he was an ornament, and to the world, 
to which he added much of real happiness. He was loved and 
admired as far as known, and most of all by the most thoroughly 
cultivated and liberally educated people. 

Deut. 34: 5, "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land 
of Moab, according to the word of the Lord." 

On Saturday, August 27, at 12: 30, at Stanfordville, New York, 
died the Rev. Austin Craig, D.D., president of the Biblical School 
of that place, in the fifty-seventh year of his age and the thirty-sixth 
of his ministry. 

His death is considered by thousands in this country and England 
as a public calamity and an irreparable loss to the church and the 
world. His death was as extraordinary as his life. He breathed his 
last within fifteen hours of his first attack, falling asleep amid a 
flood of glory, breathing out benedictions upon all around him. The 
following letter I received from his daughter : 

Stanfordville, August 27. 
Rev. N. Summerbell, D.D. 

Papa died to-day at 12:30. No arrangements yet for the funeral, but 
it will not take place before Thursday. Lulu Craig. 

I choose the text concerning the death of Moses, not only because 
Dr. Craig lived much of his spiritual life among the old prophets, but 
because, in so many features of his life and death, he resembled the 
great teacher of ancient Israel. 

He resembled Moses, the great law-giver, in that Moses, among 
the greatest, was still the meekest of men. Moses was God's first, 
great school-teacher from books; appointed of God to teach, God 
furnishing the first text-book or Bible, the only book ever written by 
God himself. Dr. Craig's lessons were from God's own book. 

The religious life of Moses was so immaculate as to make him 
almost a companion of God, and he finally died alone with God. 
Dr. Craig obtained the appellation of " Godlike." 

Moses was eminently magnanimous, often praying for his enemies, 
delivering them from death. Dr. Craig was so noted for his good 
will to men that he had probably not an enemy in the world. 

His preaching was of the instructive kind. The churches where 
he preached were: Feltville, New Jersey; Yellow Springs, Ohio; 
Blooming Grove, New York; and "North Church," New Bedford. 
He taught principally at Antioch College and the Biblical School. 

He was always a member of the New Jersey Conference, and 
present at its last session in May last, and preached. 



AUSTIN CRAIG 543- 

His second wife is a woman of much worth, a practicing physician 
at Rochester, and a trustee of the Biblical School when he married 
her. His first wife, the mother of his children, was a graduate of 
Antioch College under Horace Mann. 

The circumstances of the death of Brother Craig reminded me of 
the death of Moses, which was glorious — the most glorious of all the 
prophets. It was preceded by no sickness, introduced by no decay. 
His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. He was young, 
though he had lived one hundred and twenty years ; and died, not 
from long sickness and debility, but in the midst of his strength and 
usefulness, in sight of the promised land, the earthly Canaan, when 
God took him up to the heavenly. He had been a leader, a prophet, 
a teacher, a deliverer, amid wonderful times of trial and revolution, 
but ever a peacemaker. Moses prayed while others fought. Others 
sustained his weary arms, while he stretched forth his hands in 
prayer. 

But Moses' work was well done, and God desired him to come home 
to heaven. Another could lead Israel as well. God sent them 
Joshua. Moses gave the warrior his dying blessing, and Joshua 
succeeded Moses, when one was needed at whose word sun and moon 
stood still. 

So may it be with us ! 

The Biblical School, to which Barr looked forward and died, has 
been founded and put in successful operation. It is the school of the 
prophets, and had begun to send out its young prophets to bless the 
world. The day of victory was dawning, the Canaan of promise 
began to appear, the distant hills of Canaan began to rise. But the 
work of one prophet is done ; God called him up to Pisgah's mount, 
and he saw the land, and the Savior said, "It is enough, come up 
higher." 

The first Biblical school of modern times required such a man as 
Austin Craig, a man of unexampled Biblical knowledge, who could 
illuminate ancient literature with the light of modern science, and 
warm the words of ancient prophets into new Christian life. Such a 
man was Austin Craig. No man, perhaps, on the American conti- 
nent, if in Europe, surpassed him in knowledge of the Bible, its 
ancient languages, or heavenly doctrine. In his explanations, the old 
prophets seemed to live again — Enoch to come back to earth to the 
imagination of the student; Abraham walked again his steps of 
faith ; Moses stood with naked feet before the burning bush ; Elijah 
ascended again in his chariot of fire ; Elisha visited the school of the 
prophets. Dr. Craig's learning commanded universal respect, and 
his exegesis undivided attention. Above all, all saw in the daily life 
of their teacher the life of Jesus so truly reproduced in the disciple 
as to give to Christianity new life and power. Dr. Craig seemed to 
walk with Abraham, worship with Moses, reason with St. Paul, 



514 STDDIERBELL AND WRITINGS 

ascend the mount with Peter, James, and John, and converse with 
Jesus. The faith of Austin Craig was divine. To him, God was 
God. He loved what God loved, and hated what God hated. God 
was the God of all his heart's affections and desires. The will of 
God was consulted, and was the arbiter of all his ways. Obedience 
was his delight. 

When questioned on baptism, his answer was, "The Master was 
baptized"; on sprinkling, ''The Master did not sprinkle''; on the 
church, "The Master gave us the church"; on conversion, "The 
Master said, 'Ye must be born again. 1 " For him to be like Jesus 
was a constant joy. With John, he leaned on Jesus' bosom; with 
the sacred three, ascended the mount of the transfiguration; with 
Mary, sat at Jesus' feet ; with the wise men, worshiped the Lord in 
the manger; and with John, outran Peter, and came first to the 
sepulcher. He was at home nowhere without Jesus. His adoration 
of the Savior Avas of the most exalted character, and his devotion to 
his service a corresponding faithfulness. To him it was the same 
Jesus on the cross of Calvary, or on his Father's throne ; always Lord, 
ever divine. Modest men, and even non-professors, were so wont 
to liken him to Jesus as to be almost offensive. Hon. Horace Mann 
said that Austin Craig reminded him of Jesus more than any other 
human being. Others likened him to the Apostle John. The terms 
"Christlike," and even "Godlike Austin Craig," were applied to 
him even by the wicked. A citizen at Stanfordville said to me last 
week that "no man who had ever lived in that community com- 
manded such general respect and esteem from all classes, or was so 
looked up unto, or so lamented, as Dr. Craig. All denominations 
respected him." Such were the words of men in no way associated 
with the Christian Church or schools. 

Like Moses, he was well instructed. Austin Craig was educated 
in all the wisdom of the universities, but refused to be called their 
son, choosing rather to suffer Avith his own people than to be honored 
by aliens. He early and intelligently adopted the religion of the New 
Testament ; and as he loved the SaAdor, so he loved a life in conform- 
ity Avith the life of Jesus. 

Though blessed with wealth, his parents affected no pride ; and, on 
the other hand, though frugal and industrious, they were not selfish 
or parsimonious. No expense was spared in the education of their 
children. Austin and Emma were educated as the Lord AYould haA^e 
them — fully, liberally, truthfully, and faithfully, and grew up chil- 
dren of God, beloved, as their parents had been before them. 

Our dear brother did not deem it sufficient to profess some popular 
views, obey some favorite commandments, and maintain good stand- 
ing. He esteemed it a privilege to secure an inward, spiritual assim- 
ilation to the Savior, and an outward Christlikeness, AA-hich was 
apparent in all his words and all his AA T ays. 



AUSTIN CRAIG 545 

He appeared as though he felt like Jesus. 

He spake as though he thought like Jesus. 

His spirit seemed to be one with Jesus. Always loving, always 
pleasant, always cheerful, ever kind! To do his duty was a crown, 
not a cross. He loved the loving accent above the lofty style, and 
the grace of charity above the rising inflection ; so that, though his 
language was a model in belles lettres, the model of purity, it was 
gilded over by the golden tinge of heavenly grace and beauty. 
Dr. Craig's religion seemed unaffected, his grace hereditary, his 
goodness natural. 

Though a great light is for a little while eclipsed, let us trust that 
it has not gone out, but will shine with a brighter luster through the 
lessons he has taught. Moses dead is greater than Moses when liv- 
ing. Austin Craig's great life is not ended. The soldier has laid 
down his sword, but he has not put off his armor. The teacher has 
closed his book, but the lesson still goes on ; and Austin Craig's sweet 
voice may be hushed, but his words gain in force, for he spake the 
words of the great Master, whose voice shall shake continents and 
instruct worlds. 

Austin Craig, in the Bible school, was continuing the work of the 
first Teacher. The "law was our schoolmaster to bring us to 
Christ." The book of the law, called the decalogue, is the only 
book written by God — the oldest school-book in the world. 

The work of Dr. Craig was to instruct the prophets. Let us not 
despair. If he was our Moses, a Joshua may follow. If our Elijah, 
his mantle may fall on Elisha. Even when Jesus left, the Comforter 
came. 

Mrs. Dr. Craig, speaking of her husband's departure, said he had 
been very busy all day. In the evening he read to the children from 
Plato, explaining the lessons. After they retired, he complained of 
severe distress, which increased all through the night, causing 
dreadful agony. No remedies relieved him. Death was soon appar- 
ent. He said to the physicians, "Has my last hour come?" and 
added, "It is well," and called for his family. The wife, mother, 
sister, six children, circled round his bed. A neighbor held his head 
and shoulders upon his breast. One by one he took his loved ones 
in his arms, gave them his dying counsel, laid his hands upon their 
heads, kissed and bade them farewell, blessing them. Thus he bade 
every one farewell with a blessing. When he found that he had 
still a few moments left, he called his children, and kissed and blessed 
them a second time. Resting a moment, but still continuing to 
breathe, he raised his dying hands from his breast, waved them 
toward all in the form of a general benediction, and said, "God bless 
you all." His head sank back, his eyes closed, and his spirit took its 
upward flight to God. The doctors came forward, but the pulse was 
still, and he had ceased to breathe. 

35 



546 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

How grand the scene! His dying hands spread forth in blessing 
seemed the prelude of the spirit's mounting to its heavenly home. 

How much there is in the life and death of this saint of God to 
remind one of Moses! All who knew Dr. Craig can realize — 

1. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians — the 
most learned people on earth. 

2. He was beloved as their child, but preferred his own people. 

3. He preferred the cross of Christ before the crown of Egypt. 

4. Though the greatest man on earth, he was the meekest. 

5. He lived long on the mount with God, and died alone with 
God. 

6. Died, seemingly in the midst of his great work. 

7. Died without sickness, at the command of God. 

8. Died in his full strength — his eye was not dim, nor his natural 
force abated. 

9. Moses blessed his people, naming the heads of the tribes one 
by one. So did our dying brother bless the living ones, one by one — 
kissed each, then blessed all together. 

In no other case of death are all these things so exemplified. 

The beauty of a text is in its increasing beauty. The text chosen 
for our brother's memorial sermon increases in preciousness the more 
intently it is examined. The English reading is, "Moses died, . . . 
according to the word of the Lord." The Hebrew reads, "At the 
mouth of the Lord." The great Jewish scholar, Jonathan Ben 
Uzziel, renders it, "By a kiss of the Word of Jehovah." By the 
"Word" the Christian understands Christ, and, therefore, to him it 
means that Moses died in the embrace of Jesus, the "Word of God." 
The oldest Jewish tradition says, ' ' God embraced Moses, and drew 
his soul out of his body by a kiss." So died Moses, with a kiss of 
Jehovah. 

And so died Austin Craig. Rising above the death agony, when 
his "hour had come," — 

His arms folded his loved ones to his breast; 

His voice takes form in benedictions ; 

His hands scatter blessings ; 

His heart's pulsations go out in love ; 

His breath exhales heavenly sweetness ; 

His lips imprint kisses ; 

Every movement speaks of love, and God, and Jesus, and heaven ; 

And dying, he waves a last farewell, with his final, "God blesls 
you all." 

No artist ever pictured a death scene like this. In all the Catholic 
legends of dying saints there is no scene so grand. The man of God 
rises; . . . while dying, . . . rises above mortality, and passing to 
the shores of Paradise, flings back to friends crowding the shore 
flowers of Paradise, with blessings and kisses of God's love. 



ERRORS 547 

The following appeared in the Christian Indicator of August 10, 1882 : 
BELIEFS CONTRADICTING SCRIPTURE. 

1. That man was created immortal (with a tree to make him 
immortal). 

2. That God, out of Christ, is a consuming fire, (and so loved the 
world as to provide a Savior that he might not be a consuming fire). 

3. That God cursed Adam and Eve, (and promised them a Savior, 
and clothed them). 

4. That man lost the image of God in Eden ; (but retained it after 
the flood, and after redemption). (Gen. 9, and James). 

5. That we must repent and be converted to be saved, (but will 
be saved all the same if we do not repent ) . 

6. That little children are totally depraved, (and that we must 
become like them to be saved). 

7. That Christ will not reign till the end of the world, (and will 
then deliver up the kingdom to God). (I. Cor 15 : 24.) 

8. That there is no virtue in good works, ( and that we must work 
out our salvation ) . 

9. That the creeds which say that Christ died only for the elect 
are true, (yet he "died for all") 

10. That men are perfectly satisfied with God's word, (but cannot 
do without a creed). N. Summerbell. 

On October 5, 1882, he delivered an address at the Quadrennial Con- 
vention at Albany, New York, from which we make the following 
quotations : 

OUR DECEASED MINISTERS. 

[ Address, before the American Christian Convention, at Albany, New 
York, October 5, 1882.] 

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats : and upon 
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; 
and they had on their heads crowns of gold." ( Rev. 4:4.) 

11 Shadow or spirit, — whichever thou art, — 
That still doth inherit the whole, or part, 
Of the form' of thy birth ; or the mold of thy clay 
That 's returned to the earth: reappear to the day!" 

I speak of the numerous host of our departed ministers, and invoke 
their presence — present in spirit, or at least in memory, and in our 
hearts. 

Of the half a hundred of our ministers who have died during the 
last quadrennium I may speak, but not of them alone : their memories 
are embalmed in eulogies, and enshrined in loving hearts. 



548 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

It is a sorrowful pleasure to recount the names of the dead. I 
shall read the names, to-day, of men, with the most of whom I have 
been personally acquainted ; and the service, to me, Avill be solemnly 
interesting. 

To add new luster to the names whose praise has exhausted the 
pens of Goff, Weston, Wyman, McWhinney, Rush, Comings — is 
not to be looked for. 

The most I can do is to call back to memory the forms of other 
days — hold momentary communion with them, and write their 
names afresh on memory's tablet. As I call the names, permit the 
departed to appear. Close your eyes to present scenes, and look at 
them as they once stood before you. 

Purviance, tall, manly and reverend; Clough, with his full form, 
fair face, black, flashing eye, and full, clear voice; Walter's and 
Worley's tall, dark forms, with faces full of heavenly sweetness; 
Hazen, heavy set, with his sweet, benevolent face, could easily be 
mistaken for a mild Quaker ; next Jones, Stone, Dudley, Purviance, 
Gardner, Haggard, Kinkade, Thomas, Taylor, Eldridge, Chadwick, 
Holland, Howe, Shaw ; Millard, tall and thin, full of the story of the 
cross ; Peako, full of sweet words and sweeter thoughts ; Smith's tall, 
giant form, and Plummer, the Apollo of graceful beauty, full of song 
and gospel. 

A large proportion of our first ministers were very large men ; tall 
and heavy -built; of robust appearance, vigorous, and capable of 
enduring great labor. But they will be remembered most of all for 
their wonderful sermons and prayers — their remarkable faith and 
devotion. My desire is that we may maintain the same or greater 
devotion to the true Biblical doctrines — love to Christ and hatred of 
the heresies of priestcraft, embodied in antiquated creeds. But, 
above all, cherish all that is true and good. Every doctrine taught 
by Jesus has a wealth of power in it, which enriches those who hold 
it and impoverishes those who reject it. It is even more important, 
therefore, to hold on to all that is true, than it is to reject all that is 
fabulous. 

It is something to keep the roll of precious names, and occasionally 
to hear the names of those we love. I call the roll, to-day, of many 
immortal ; and those who love the sainted dead will watch and wait, 
irrespective of whether we arrange them wisely or not. Remember, 
I arrange my own audience of the departed ones, most of whom I 
have known, — and for them I speak. I call to the front great men, 
who preached the gospel in your presence — or the presence of your 
fathers — four, forty, or fourscore years ago • men whose faces were 
then fresh and fair — whose eyes flashed brighter than with Prome- 
thean fire ! 

As defenders of the true faith, I introduce to you, first of all, some 
of our own ministers who have died in our last quadrennium. 



DEPARTED MINISTERS 549 

Solemn Roll Call, 18 82. — Of those who have departed in the 
last quadrennium, I will name — 

Dr. Austin Craig, president of the Biblical School. Died August 27, 
1881. Brother Craig was born in Peapack, New Jersey, in 1824, and was 
ordained to the gospel ministry in 1846. 

Joseph Blackmar, of New England. 

G. W. Tilton, of Exeter, New Hampshire. Died September 28, 1880. 

J. T. Colby. Died June 5, 1877, aged 87 years. 

Moses McDaniel, of Le Grand Institute, Iowa. Died September 19, 
1881. 

Samuel Funson, of Port Jefferson, Ohio. Died April 23, 1882, after a 
ministry of fifty years. 

Daniel Grant. 

Elijah Dawson, of Iowa. Died July 21, 1881 

Dr. Naaman Dawson, of Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Stephen Hitchcock. Died April 27, 1881. 

Major Hancock, of Ohio. 

Harrison Tole. Died April 16, 1881, at Bedford, Ohio, aged 63 years. 

John Ross, of New York. 

Philip J. Hawk, of New Jersey. Died at Crompton, Maryland, March 
15, 1881. 

Elihu G. Holland. Died at Cheshire, New York, December 13, 1878. 

Grove K. Godfrey. Died in California, May 24, 1880. 

Thomas Henry, of Canada. 

William Henry, of Canada. Died September 11, 1880, aged 71 years. 

R. O. Kinny, of Illinois. 

Benjamin Mapes. Died February 1 , 1S79, aged 80 years. 

S. H. Morse, of DeWittville, New York. Died April 18, 1882. 

John Newton Manning, the learned author. Died in Norfolk, Vir- 
ginia, February 14, 1880. 

William Pierson, of Ohio. Died September 7, 1881. 

Samuel Pofi. Died September 20, 1881, aged 85 years, after a ministry 
of sixty-two years. 

N. L. Swank. Died at Ridgway, Michigan, January 7, 1881. 

Hiram ( son of Richard ) Simonton, of Ohio. Died September 19, 1880. 

A. A. Watkins. 

Nehemiah Sleeper, of Andover, New Hampshire. Died October 3, 
1881, aged 89 years. Preached his last sermon at the age of 80. 

C. A. Peake, of St. Johnsville, New*Ybrk. Died June 11, 1880. 

Moses Howe, the aged veteran, and 

Jasper Hazen, each in the 92d year of his age. 

John N Spoor, agent of the Biblical School. 

To the names of the foregoing we add women, who also preached 
the gospel — f 

Barbara Kellison, of Iowa. 

Harriet Coats, of Iowa. 

Mary Kings worth, and 

Dolly Richards, of Michigan, formerly of Ohio. 

Dr. Craig, who preached here, in Albany, one of his last sermons 
(died August 27, 1881), leads the w^ay, with his broad, high fore- 
head, slender form, and ever-smiling face. 

Elder William Jay, dying the same year, and nearly the same age 
(January 14, 1881, aged 57), comes next. 



550 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Elder John N. Spoor, agent and trustee of the Bibhcal School, 
member of the New Jersey Conference, died September 7, 1880. 

Elder Elihu G. Holland, the orator and man of letters, called a 
splendid writer, died December 13, 1878, near Canandaigua, New 
York. 

Elder C. A. Peake, of St. Johnsville, New York. One of nature's 
finest speakers ; renowned for his sweet life. He died June 11, 1880. 

Elder John Ross, called by Dr. Craig, "The Faithful Pastor." His 
memoir is written by the eloquent pen of Warren Hathaway. 

The Biblical School and New Jersey Conference lost each two — 
Dr. Austin Craig, and his true friend, Elder John N. Spoor. 

Ohio lost two of its ablest ministers — Simonton and Jay. Canada, 
two of its oldest — William Henry and Thomas Henry. 

New England also lost two — Moses Howe and Jasper Hazen. 
Each was in his 9 2d year, and each had been over seventy years in 
the ministry. They died full of faith, covered with glory, honor, and 
good works. 

In sad contrast to the above, there died in the same year (1882) 
three men, also of New England, — Kirkland, Sullivan, and Water- 
house. They were all young, respectably educated, and beloved; 
and left us for wider fields of usefulness — for more of this life. 
These all died within a few months of each other, soon after leaving 
us — all died in the morning of life. The same year the two former 
passed away, each approaching one hundred years, and each three 
score and ten years in the ministry. 

It is, indeed, important to report that, in the last year's departures, 
we find several of nearly ninety years of age, Elder Sleeper, 89, and 
Elders How and Hazen, each 92. And they have many aged assc 
ciates. 

Elder Abraham Vorhees. Died aged 90, after a ministry of sixty 
years. 

Elder James Potter. Died aged 90, after a ministry of sixty-one years. 

Elder David Ford. Died aged 90, after a ministry of sixty-five years. 

Elder Sylvester Morris. Died aged 90, after a ministry of sixty-eight 
years. 

Elder Joel Doubleday. Died aged 92, after a ministry of fifty-three 
years. 

Elder David Mudge. Died aged 93 years. 

Elder James Dunlap. Died aged 93, after a ministry of sixty-one 
years. 

Elder John Boothby. Died aged 96, after a ministry of sixty-eight 
years. 

Lebbeus Field. Died aged 100, after a ministry of sixty-six years. 

Elder John Strait, preached when 100. Died aged 103, after a ministry 
of eighty-four years. 

God promises long life. He says, "My son, forget not my law; 
but let thine heart keep my commandments : for length of days, and 
long life, and peace, shall they add to thee." (Proverbs 3:1, 2.) 



DEPARTED MINISTERS 551 

And to the man who obeys the Bible, "With long life will I satisfy 
him." (Psalm 91:16.) Give them the front seats — seats around 
the stand. 

John, the Revelator, says of scenes in heaven, "Round about the 
throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four 
and twenty elders sitting, . . . and they had on their heads crowns of 
gold." (Rev. 4:4.) Look, ye aged, and renew your communion 
with the great and good, and behold their splendor! Not four and 
twenty popes, or "Lord Bishops"; but four and twenty elders, on 
thrones, surround God's throne and cast their crowns at Jesus' 
feet. 

Professor E. W. Humphreys, in his "Memoirs of Christian Min- 
isters," says: "The name of Horace Mann is inserted among the 
ministers of the Christian Church on account of his prominent posi- 
tion as an educator in the connection, and his frequently speaking in 
the pulpit during his presidency of Antioch. . . . While not profes- 
sionally a preacher, he often spoke in our churches." — Memoirs, pp. 
212, 213. 

It is well ! He occupied the pulpit as well as the platform, and 
preached as well as prayed. The Christian church at Yellow 
Springs, Ohio, was the only church of which he was ever a member, 
or the leading principles of winch he fully indorsed. It is a pleasing 
reminiscence that, during 1856-57, while I labored there as pastor, 
President Horace Mann, and Professors William II. Doherty, Ira 
W. Allen, Austin Craig, Arthur L. McKinney, and other men, — 
great and beloved, — were of my congregation. Mr. Mann was re- 
ceived into the church by Elder Derostes F. Ladley, the first pastor 
of the church at Yellow Springs. He was a devout Christian, and 
died at his post, at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, at the age 
of 63.* 

Horace Mann's testimony to the Christians : " They call themselves 
'Christians,' not invidiously, but devoutly." "They take the Bible 
as their rule of faith and practice, and, in a true Protestant spirit, 
allow liberty of interpretation." — Horace Mann. 

Of the four and twenty elders, we introduce, as representative 
ministers, the great laborers of the most heavenly reformation of the 
church — that of the nineteenth century — 

Elder James O'Kelley, of North Carolina; the defender of freedom 
and founder of the first Christian church in the South; was a pre- 
siding elder in the Methodist Church. 

Elder Francis Williamson, of Virginia ; the first to free his slaves, 
and preach a free gospel; built the first free meeting-house for the 
Christians. His sons are Elders Elijah and James Williamson, of 
Iowa. 

-For much of this record, as well as other data, I am indebted to the " Memoirs 
of Christian Ministers," by E. W. Humphreys. 



552 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Next come Stone and Purviance, founders of the Christian Church 
in the West. See their ' ' Last Will and Testament as Presbyterians, " 
June 28, 1804. 

I mention next such illustrious names, as — 

Elder Oliver Barr, pleading for a Biblical school. 

Elder TTtley Little John, baptizing at the age of 85. 

Elder Mat chew Gardner, the great revivalist and founder of 
churches. 

Elder O. E. Morrill, everywhere winning souls to Christ. 

Elder William Kinkade, the apostle of total abstinence and anti- 
slavery. 

Elder Jasper Hazen, aged 92, with a service in the ministry of 
seventy-two years, former editor of the Christian Palladium, in 
Albany. He also published "The Christian Hymn-Book," with 
1,159 hymns; an excellent book. He was a very able and reliable 
man. 

Elder Moses Howe, aged 92 years, with seventy years in the minis- 
try, died respected and beloved by thousands of converts. 

Think of Elder Daniel Hix, baptizing his 1,500 converts! The 
British crown, with its 1,700 diamonds, pales in the presence of his 
crown. 

Next see Elder Isaac N. Walter, with his 3,392 converts. The 
Russian crown is said to have 2,500 jewels, nearly a thousand less 
than his. 

Elder Samuel Nutt is seen, baptizing 3,000 converts. Victoria's 
crown, worth twenty millions, is not as valuable as his. 

Elder Simon Clough, the St. Paul of the great reformation, was 
never at home till seated with the elders in glory. He built the first 
Christian church in New York, and several stone churches in New 
Jersey. 

Elder Hezekiah Burnham, moving the multitudes to repentance. 

Elder Daniel Call, with his 10,000 converts. The French crown 
has only 5,332 gems, nearly 5,000 less than the crown of Call. 

Lastly, see Elder John Strait, preaching at 100 years of age, and 
dying at 103, full of faith, in the eighty -fifth year of his ministry. 

These are our twenty -four elders, — representative men, — remind- 
ing us of the four and twenty elders round the throne. 

With these appear, also, the wonderful men who were named as 
great prophets, such as Andrews, "the living concordance," whose 
knowledge of the Bible seemed unbounded. 

Joseph Thomas, the White Pilgrim, whose snow-white garments 
seemed appropriate. 

John Adams, the great Tennessee preacher. 

Amos Alexander, the Georgia evangelist. 

John Phillips, called "Antioch John." 

John Osborn, the teetotaler, the pioneer of temperance. 



DEPARTED MINISTERS 553- 

The Alkires and Aliens, Ashleys and Allertons, Badger, Bagley, 
Baileys, Bakers, Beach, Barrett, and Barlow, with Blackmar, the 
remarkable story of whose life is so beautifully written by Isaac Goff, 
D.D., "Uncle Levi," the good son of David Purviance. Burlingame, 
Henry, and Dooley, McGuire, Huntley, Elliot, and Wellons ;" Shaw, 
the Taylors, and Tripps, McClain, Harvey, Hayes, Sullings, Thomas, 
Thompson, Robertson, Lauer, Lawshe, Barber, and I don't know 
how many others. They were men of wonderful power with God 
and men ; men of great faith in God ; men who had a work to do, and 
did it; men often called from private prayer to their meals, and who 
spent hours on their knees before preaching. 

They found the Bible covered with creeds, and Christ pushed away 
for human leaders. Churches of men were everything, but not a 
church in the world called simply "Christians." Orthodoxy was 
submission, not to the Bible, but to a creed ; loyalty was not devotion 
to Christ, but to men. 

These men startled the world by lifting a banner with this strange 
device : ' ' Christian ! Christ ! the Bible ! " " Gospel Liberty ! Union ! 
Truth and Charity ! " The startled world cried "Heresy ! " But the 
work of God went on. The Bible soon rose above the creed, and. 
Christ was worshiped, and not human leaders. The church of Christ 
appeared above the churches of men. Union was preferred to divi- 
sion, and communion of all saints was regarded more sacred than the 
sacrament of a party. They preached, also, that a pious life is the 
best test of fellowship, and union with Christ the best qualification 
for union with the church. 

The labor of Christian ministers now gone is immortal. They 
established the religious newspaper press. They established open 
communion. They built the first college that ever opened its doors, 
on perfect equality, to wpmen. 

Who decry open communion now? Who refuse the aid of the 
religious paper? Who contend to exclude women from college? 

Now we have Christian churches by the thousand contending for 
the Word of God alone; Christian newspapers by the hundred; 
Young Men's Christian Associations in every city, Christian Unions 
everywhere. And the church has made more progress during the 
one hundred years of the Christians 1 work in America, more advance 
in Bible knowledge, and every principle which we have contended 
for, than it had done in any five hundred years before since the 
formation of the creed church, if we except the Reformation of the 
sixteenth century. With our superior advantages, we may now have 
superior men ; but we have no class who excel in our day as they did 
in theirs. 

These men were not only great in the pulpit, but in the forum. 
William Mitchell pronounced David Purviance, as a legislator, equal 
to any man in his day. Kinkade's name was made immortal in the 



554 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Illinois Legislature, for saving Illinois from being made a slave State. 
Thomas Jefferson procured the consent of Congress to hear James 
O'Kelley preach, and followed him with remarks, in tears, pronounc- 
ing him the greatest divine of the age. Smith's establishment of the 
religious newspaper press is one of the most important steps of prog- 
less in the world. 

The important work of re-establishing the church on the original 
Bible basis not only required wonderful men, but was of the nature 
to inspire them with wonderful faith in God. It was like a return of 
our first parents to Eden. The Bible had originally been given to 
tell us just what to believe, and what to do, and only selfish desires, 
earthly pride, want of faith, or love of gain, could induce well- 
informed men to adopt, instead of this God-given rule of faith and 
practice, inferior deductions of human reason. 

All knew that the Bible was the only perfect rule, the only test of 
loyalty to Christ. These thoughts would, of course, have much to 
do with all great reforms with which they were inspired. 

The first baptism is thus described by Purviance. A member of 
the church had applied to Stone for baptism. 

I called Stone and Dooley aside, and made known to them my mind 
and determination, and asked Stone to baptize me, to which he con- 
sented. I mentioned that the only thing I regretted was hurting the 
brethren. Dooley replied, "The best way to please the brethren is to 
please the Lord." I then addressed the congregation publicly, and 
made a concise statement of my views on the subject of baptism. Be- 
fore I went into the water, Dooley said to me, "After you are baptized, 
I shall want you to put me under the water," which I did. I also 
immersed a number more before I came out of the water. Not long 
after, Stone was baptized. 

History will record these men as the greatest benefactors of the 
Church — men whose spiritual power not only shook the world, but 
whose steps mark the progress of the church as she approaches her 
heavenly state. But this approach of the church on earth to the 
original heavenly state of purity of faith, goodness, and spiritual 
power can only come as men are willing to give up earthly pomp, 
place, and gain, for the glory of God and good of men. 

One peculiarity of the early Christian ministers was that, with all 
their religious zeal, revival spirit, great faith, and holiness, they yet 
took care of their own faith, and firmly believed that they "Should 
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the 
saints " ; and this greatly added to their popularity. 

The common people were wearied of the unscriptural nonsense of 
triune uncertainty, Man-God Deity, — full-pay atonement, which 
settled nothing, — paradoxical creeds, and sects following half -crazy 
human leaders ; and in the Biblical Christian preaching they found 
hope, and the country was filled with churches. 



DEPARTED MINISTERS 555 

It is questionable whether any other people ever undertook such a 
radical reform. It was no less than to conform everything to the 
Bible on the apostolic model. And it is doubted if it is possible to 
form a church in more perfect harmony with the New Testament 
church than the Christian Church of the nineteenth century. 

To the objection that they were not educated, I reply : This is prob- 
ably a common error. Purviance was teacher of Latin and Greek. 
Stone was a teacher of languages in a Methodist academy, and 
studied Hebrew under a Prussian doctor, at Lexington, Kentucky. 
Many of them were teachers before they were preachers. 

They were popular preachers in the leading denominations of the 
day, and had, therefore, the education demanded by the popular 
denominations of that period. 

Their word was with power, and the tidal wave of reformation 
which rose with their preaching flows on to this day, carrying 
churches of all denominations forward to the advanced positions 
mapped out by them. Willingly, or unwillingly, all denominations 
follow, far off or near, the lead of these great men. 

Another objection is that they preached without salaries, — yes, 
and like their Master, without pulpit, or home. Many of them, as 
Stone and Williamson, freed all their slaves, and forsook the opulent 
churches, traveled preaching the gospel and exhorting men to repent, 
— contended for the freedom of men and the glory of God, — died 
poor, awaiting the riches and crown in heaven. 

Had they waited for salary and reward here, we had not been here, 
nor ever have heard of the heavenly reformation. 

Homo TInus Libri would apply to each of them. They were all 
men of one book! The Christian minister and his Bible were con- 
stant companions. Some knew all the doctrines and ethical parts by 
heart, and could repeat whole books, — some were called ''Walking 
Bible,"— some, as Elder Andrews, "The Walking Concordance." 
They were sober-minded men, — earnest men. They were God-fear- 
ing and God-loving men. They had great faith in God as an ever- 
present help, — a prayer-hearing God. 

Many of them were above mediocrity as orators, using elegant 
language, correct in rhetoric, powerful in illustration, and full of 
heavenly love. They were fervent, Biblical, and able polemics. 

Listen to Clouglis description of ministers, and ask if we fill the 
picture. Clough seemed to speak prophetically of the national strug- 
gle with slavery. He said, in 1843 : 

Before men can be brought universally to concede to each other their 
rights and to God his dominion, immense changes of an exciting charac- 
ter must take place. The storm is certainly advancing, — the elements 
are in motion, — we hear the distant thunder, — we perceive the agitation, 
— we see here and there the uplifted hand of violence. . . . 

Should the torch of war be kindled, who can tell how wide will be the 
conflagration, or how long it may burn? . . . 



556 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Now, for such a crisis, we need ministers of deep piety and great 
powers of penetrating foresight. Men who will display in the discharge 
of their duties, energy and wisdom, prudence and zeal. We need in the 
holy office, men of calm and collected minds, who can look at the raging 
tempest without agitation, — who can stand amid high excitement with- 
out losing their balance. Men of enlarged views, and inflexible firmness 
and integrity. A ministry above all selfish considerations and petty 
bickerings. ... A ministry who can enjoy the presence of God, and can 
inspire the confidence of the church 

But what can the church do in the day of trial with a weak, ignorant, 
injudicious, and inefficient ministry? Such a ministry will hang like an 
incubus about her neck, and strangle her to death. 

Few of those who find fault Avith the fathers, comprehend the 
magnitude of their work. In returning to the Bible and Christ for 
their religion, they at once disturbed the sandy foundations of every 
other church, and by digging down to the primitive rock, they not 
only endangered adjoining buildings on sandy foundations, but threat- 
ened to bring contempt upon all sand foundations in the future, or 
coming ages. 

Theologians have no mercy for those who meddle with their creeds, 
and reformers know it. We are often reminded of Luther's courage 
at Spires. But it is well known that Luther had in his pocket a 
"Safe Conduct " from his prince, and that soldiers appointed by that 
prince were prepared to guard his person where the safe conduct 
might fail. But when we step behind the curtain, we find that even, 
the lion-hearted Luther could compromise conscience. His best 
friends tell us, in the most reliable Lutheran books, that, after being 
long called a gospeler, for his preferring the gospel to the creeds, he 
signed the Augsburg Confession, which he did not approve, by the 
persuasion of Melancthon, to prevent or avoid persecution. The 
words are from "Storr and Flatt's Biblical Theology," page 301, on 
persons in God, as follows : 

Much was said about the time of the Reformation concerning the ten- 
dency of these terms to lead to tritheism, and among the advocates for 
their expulsion from theological disquisition might be mentioned a 
number of the first divines of the age, not excepting Hunnius, and 
even Luther himself. Yet, to prevent the charge of Arianism or Socin- 
ianism, which he knew his enemies would eagerly seize the least pretext 
to prefer against them, Luther yielded to Melancthon's wishes, and in 
the Augsburg Confession, the doctrine of the trinity is couched in the 
old scholastic terms. 

This weakness of Luther, in signing the Augsburg Confession, 
paralyzed the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, and with 
the divisions consequent, as Trench admits, drove whole nations bi.ck 
to the Roman Church. "For," as they could well argue, "if we 
take the Catholic superstition, why not keep the Catholic Church? " 

One of the greatest of all qualifications for a useful minister is a 
pure, true character. We can have little confidence in men, how- 
ever learned, eloquent, and pleasing, whose daily life does not agree 



DEPARTED MINISTERS 557 

with their profession. The character of the preacher should illustrate 
all his doctrines. This was eminently the fact with our first minis- 
ters in America, — they were poor, but honest, — they were true and 
truthful, — they were chaste in language out of, as well as in, the 
pulpit, — they were as men who waited for their Lord, prepared to 
meet him at his coming. 

The sublime worship of One Supreme Jehovah, or One Father, who 
is above all, "as it is in heaven," was a consequence of their strict 
conformity to the Bible. When one said the phrase ' ' Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost 11 is subversive of equality, as Father implies prior- 
ity, and Holy Ghost does not even imply Deity, and j>roposed a 
discussion, both sides agreeing to contend only for Bible language, 
the objector could not so word his proposition, and concluded to 
abide by the book. Their equally sublime doctrine was that Christ 
was in the beginning with God ; by whom God made the world and 
.all things; who had glory with him before the world was, and who 
is now seated with God on his throne, possessing all power, both in 
heaven arid earth, as a mediator between God and men. This 
developed from their strict conformity to the Bible. 

Among the ministers prominent as authors, the first place is due to 
Elder James O'Kelley, author of "Church Government," an anti- 
slavery work ; ' ' The Divine Oracles ; or, To the Law and the Testi- 
mony"; "Annotation on the Book of Discipline"; "Apology for 
Rejecting Episcopacy"; "Vindication of the Apology, with Reflec- 
tions on the Reply of Bishop Asbury ; " and other works, books, and 
periodicals, , biographies, pamphlets, and papers. Second we notice 
"Millard's True Messiah," and "Millard's Travels"; "Thomas' 
Travels and Poems " ; " Clough's Select Works " ; " Morgridge's True 
Believers' Defense"; "Stone's Work of Christ, and His Atonement. " 
These are all works of more than ordinary merit. 

The aged minister's last meeting with his brethren : 

In the month of June, 1843, we received a visit from our aged and 
respected father in the gospel, B. W. Stone. We were carrying on a 
protracted meeting in the town of New Paris when he arrived. He 
came into the rneeting-house on the afternoon of the Lord's day. There 
was a large congregation. Elder Elijah Williamson was in the stand, 
preaching, when Father Stone came in. The eyes of many of his old 
Cane Ridge friends fell upon him as he passed on slowly towards the 
stand. But, alas ! how different his appearance from what it was twenty- 
five years ago. Instead of that robust form, beautiful symmetry, and 
elastic step, we beheld an emaciated form, M'orn dewn by fatigue and 
enfeebled by disease, leaning on the top of his stafT, and bending his 
course forward until he reached the seat in front of the stand, where 
several of the companions of his youth w r ere sitting, listening to the 
word of life. He quietly took his seat, and the preacher proceeded in 
his discourse without interruption, not knowing who was before him. 
When he closed a song was raised, and David Purviance arose from his 
seat and walked across in front of the stand until he met his old tried 
friend and brother. Elder Stone, seeing him coming, arose to his feet. 
They embraced each other in their arms, and burst into a flood of tears. 



558 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

They hung upon each other's breasts with feelings of affection that 
seemed to move the whole house, while many stood w T aiting to extend 
the warm hand of affection to their aged father in the gospel. 

On the next day (Monday) a very large congregation came together, 
expecting to see Father Stone, and hear him preach. When he arose in 
the stand, every eye in the house was upou him. He cast his eye over 
the audience with that intelligent look that marked his former years. 
He recognized before him many of his aged brethren that had heard 
him preach in the days of his youth. His feelings appeared almost to 
overcome him. 

After making a few remarks in reference to his age, infirmities, and 
inability of both body and mind, he opened the New Testament and 
read the first six verses of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, and gave us a 
very appropriate lecture. He dwelt with peculiar interest on the third 
verse, "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
peace." He was pathetic and affectionate in his address, and we could 
discover something of Father Stone in his voice and manner, but a great 
deal of that native eloquence and energy which marked his earlier days 
had sunken under the weight of years and afflictions. The thought that 
we were hearing him for the last time gave weight to his admonitions. 
We felt as if we were listening to the dying charge of an affectionate 
father. After he was through with his discourse, his son, Barton War- 
ren Stone, prayed. Then Elder Stone came down from the stand, and 
mingled among his old friends. I suppose that he had not for years 
been surrounded by so many of his old Cane Ridge companions. Here 
were Elders David Purviance, John Adams, Nathan Worley, David 
Ireland, John Purviance, and David Foster, all between 70 and 80 years 
of age, and many others who were but a few years younger, all from 
Cane Ridge except Elder Worley, and he had long been acquainted with 
Elder Stone. We mingled and crowded together for the last time on 
earth. The scene was solemn and interesting beyond description, to see 
so many who had almost arrived at fourscore years, with their locks 
almost as white as the driven snow, while the tears of affection flowed 
down their furrowed cheeks. They spoke of former years and future 
prospects. 

A great many of the congregation were moved to tears, and appeared 
to feel interested in this solemn and momentous scene. O! How strong 
the tie, how warm the affections of kindred souls. They praised God 
for his amazing goodness, and united together in humble prayer to God 
for grace to guide them safely through their few remaining days. Sev- 
eral aged sisters pressed forward to gain the hand of their aged father in 
the gospel, and called to mind the labors and toils of by-gone years. 
When the time had rolled on to take the parting hand, David Purviance 
addressed the congregation in a very affectionate manner. He spoke of 
Elder Stone's devotion to the cause of the Bible, his toils, labors, age, 
and afflictions. He said Brother Stone had spent his time in the work 
of the ministry, and had worn himself out laboring for the good of 
mankind, and very modestly asked the people for a contribution for his 
special benefit. The deacons of the church then passed through the 
congregation, and received a very liberal free-will offering from the peo- 
ple, and handed it to Brother Stone, which he received, but not without 
tears of gratitude. 

These aged veterans of the cross took an affectionate leave of each 
other, to meet no more on earth. — Purviance, pp. 102-107. 

Adieu ! adieu to our honored dead ! These were earnest ministers 
of the New Testament; religious; with great faith in God and the 
Scriptures. They believed in a divine call to the ministry, — they 
believed in heavenly gifts to the ministry 



BIGOTRY 559' 

Though we share their sorrows, we will emulate their virtues, and 
surpass them if we may in devotion to the Master, and in winning 
souls to Christ, and expect with them to receive the reward. "Be 
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.'' 

The following article on "Bigotry" appeared in the Church Union, of 
New York, in its issue of October 26, 1882 ; and we presume the succeed- 
ing article on the "Wonderful Spirit" appeared in the same issue: 

BIGOTRY. 

Some derive the word from the Spanish bigote, or whisker, and 
suppose that the name arose in the fact of the soldier persecutors 
wearing chin whiskers. It is now the appellation of a superstitious 
religionist, void of charity — one illiberal, narrow; and especially one 
who is ready to seize the least pretext to injure one of a contrary 
opinion to himself. It is generally manifested in an ignorant zeal 
for supposed truth, or, at least, popular opinions. It is, at best, an 
ugly brute, offensive to heaven and disgraceful to the church, and 
should be spurned as a pestilence. 

Once bigotry reigned supreme in the worldly church. Bigotry was 
monster-born, with the head of a man, but the heart of a fiend. His 
reign was cruel. Bigotry is the husband of superstition. For a 
house to live in, they built the Inquisition. Their first-born son was 
Sectarianism. They were warmed by martyr-fires, and solaced by 
the. music of expiring groans. The prosperity of the family resulted 
in the "dark ages." The Reformation routed the family by pulling 
down their house. But they wander now in disguise, often in priestly 
garb, tempting the church back to persecution. It is our duty to 
exterminate them, root and branch, and Christian love will do it. 
Bigotry, superstition, and sectarianism can no more endure the 
heavenly atmosphere of love and charity than the Prince of Dark- 
ness can the light of God's glory. Superstition, though deformed, 
leprous, and filthy, has this redeeming propensity — she loves religion. 

11 But heaven hath not a shrine so pure, 
So holy, but this serpent, sin, 
In hours we deem the most secure, 
Beneath its altars will glide in ;" 

And, casting out the fair children of God, she substitutes in their 
place her own deformed progeny — ' ' murdering religion to frighten 
fools with its ghost. 1 ' She makes a show of religion by making 
strange fires on God's altars, and gathers her worshipers around 
sparks of her own kindling. She praises God under strange names. 
She follows Jesus, but adds other leaders. She mingles obedience to 
men with obedience to God. She clings to the Bible, but covers it 
with creeds. She speaks the language of Ashdod. She cannot speak 



560 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

the language of Canaan. True religion loves the language of heaven. 
It is her native tongue. Her children love the Word of God, and, 
"having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

WONDERFUL SPIRIT. 

One of the most precious and interesting things of the Christian 
religion is the wonderful Spirit, called the Holy Ghost, which was 
present with God (Gen. 1:2), by which he garnished the heavens, 
quickens those spiritually dead, reproves the wicked, and sanctifies 
the penitent ; and which Spirit, though not named as a person in the 
oldest creeds (Apostles' and ISTicene) is yet worshiped as the third 
person in the coequal trinity. I will name some of the wonderful 
things of the Spirit, as they occur to my mind, trusting that they 
may prove profitable for the consideration of others : 

1. It is spoken of as subject and obedient, sent, and given. 

2. It could not come while Jesus was here. (John 16:7.) Yet 
Jesus breathed upon the disciple, saying, "Receive ye the Holy 
Ghost. " 

3. It would not speak of itself. (John 16 : 13.) 

4. Sin against it was worse than sin against the Father and Son ; 
yet men agree that it is no greater. 

5. It is not certain that it was ever seen in a personal form, 
though often seen in other forms — as a dove, cloven tongues, lamps 
of fire, etc. 

6. It is never spoken to as a person by the Father or the Son. 

7. It never speaks in an audible voice that we read of. 

8. It is never addressed in prayer or praise in the Bible. 

9. Jesus, in speaking of confessing us before the Father and the 
angels, omits mentioning the Holy Ghost. 

10. Jesus, speaking of his coming in glory, mentions the glory of 
the Father, of the angels, and his own glory, but omits any mention 
of the glory of the Holy Ghost. 

11. In the worship of God and the Lamb in heaven there is no 
mention of any third party worshiped. 

12. If it was the third person, it was the Father of Jesus. (See 
Luke 1 : 35.) Yet he never so regarded it. 

13. If it is God, as many suppose, it is strange that so many 
represent it by an image — as of a dove. 

14. It is the only one regarded as God that ever appeared in the 
form of a dove, or of lamps of fire. 

15. There is no account in the Bible that men ever prayed to the 
Holy Ghost to come, or to help them. 

16. It is never worshiped in the Bible, or in heaven. 

17. It is promised as a gift in answer to prayer. (Matt. 7.) 




Rev. N. Summerbell, D.D. 



HOLY SPIRIT - 561 

18. It is wonderful in its immensity, comforting saints, reproving 
sinners, promised to all who obey (see Acts 2 : 39), and yet is never 
prayed to or worshiped. 

19. It is great and glorious, yet would not speak for itself. 

20. It was omitted from mention as a third person in the oldest 
creeds, namely, the Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed. S. 

Concerning his financial integrity and promptness we have said noth- 
ing hitherto ; but in this regard he was simply faultless. The following 
letter, in the handwriting of Mr. Pounsford, of the firm of A. H. Pouns- 
ford & Co., the booksellers and printers with whom he did so much 
business, is illustrative : 

Cincinnati, January 13, 1883. 
-Rev. JSF. Summerbell, New Bedford, Massachusetts. 

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 11th inst., with inclosure as stated, is 
received. Much obliged. Enclosed please find receipt in full to Novem- 
ber, 1883. 

Doctor, you are the most prompt business divine we ever had the 
pleasure of knowing. We don't, by any means, intend intimating you 
have "mistaken your calling." No, not by any means, for we admire 
you as a Bible teacher, a preacher, and a very clever gentleman ; but we 
have often thought, What a good business man you would have made ! 
Why ? Because " promptness is the first law of business," and you have 
always been so prompt in all our relations with you. That is our proof. 

Yours truly, 

A. H. Pounsford. 

But the climate of New Bedford did not "agree" with the sore throat 
of Dr. Summerbell, and he presented his resignation as follows : 

February 26, 1883. 
To the Middle /Street Christian Church. 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Old Members and Converts: It 
has become my sad duty to say that a due regard to my health compels 
me to close my labors with you. I came to New Bedford November 4, 
1880, and desire to leave after March 26, 1883. 

Prior to my coming, this church had passed through great trials. Its 
two former pastors had gone to other denominations. IMs was not as it 
should be. The Christian principles are of heaven. The Christians have 
nothing to abandon. The name, the doctrine, the fellowship, we read 
daily in the Word of God. Our history is free from priestcraft and per- 
secution, and full of faith and charity. 

Understanding your troubles, I left my pleasant home in Ohio to assist 
you in building up this biblical church. For the result, let us thank 
God together. We have had the spirit of revival, and a large and intel- 
ligent body of young converts adds strength to the church and interest 
to the meetings. Others have united by letter. God has blessed us. 
The current is not from us to other churches, but from them to us. This 
is as it should be. We thank God for the ingatherings. Thus I leave 
you. May Jesus ever be with you. 

For all your kindness to myself and family may heaven reward you ; 
and when we are far away, we ask to be remembered kindly at the 
throne of grace. We hope to meet you in the heavenly country. 

N. Summerbell. 

To this the church responded officially as follows : 

36 



562 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

New Bedford, March 26. 1883. 
Whereas, Rev. Dr. N. Summerbell, on account of ill health, after 
careful deliberation, has tendered his resignation as pastor of the Middle 
Street Christian Church and society, of New Bedford, to take effect 
April 1, 1883 ; and while severing, with reluctance, the connection which 
he has held with honor to himself and the cause that he has represented 
in this place for the last two years and a half; therefore, 

Resolved, That we hereby accept his resignation with regret, at the 
same time feeling a pleasure in expressing our esteem for him as an able, 
conscientious, faithful minister of the gospel, a kind and judicious pastor. 
Resolved, That, although he ceases to be our pastor, and moves to 
some other place to live, we shall have sweet recollections of his many 
virtues and kindly deeds to all classes of persons, and will pray that his 
health may be speedily restored, so that he may yet do much work for 
the Master, and that as in the past so in the future his labors, with those 
of his highly esteemed companion, may be crowned with abundant 
success. 

Besolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to Rev. Dr. 
Summerbell. 
Done in behalf of Middle Street Christian Church. 

Thomas Greenwood, 
Ambrose E. Luce, 
Frank L. Davis, 

Committee. 

The following editorial matter from the New Bedford Signal of March 
17, 1883, is significant of the respect in which Dr. Summerbell was held 
in the city of New Bedford, at the time of his departure : 

Surprise.— Last Wednesday night the Middle Street Christian 
Church had a happy surprise. Rev. S. Wright Butler and nearly one 
hundred members of his prayer-meeting, after opening, adjourned the 
meeting at the White House, to go up and see Brother Summerbell, and 
express their good will to him before his leaving. Rev. S. Wright Butler, 
who headed the procession, stated in his genial and enthusiastic way the 
intent of the object of the visit. It was a happy meeting, and many 
were the expressions of regret at Brother SummerbelPs contemplated 
departure and the flattering words spoken of respect for him and of his 
good influence and valuable labors in New Bedford, especially in dis- 
couraging the evil workers and strengthening right principles. There 
seemed to be a general expression of sadness over the great loss the city 
would feel in his leaving. It is seldom that a minister, in a residence of 
two or three years, becomes so well and favorably known, or whose 
influence on the side of general good, and against evil, is so felt as in 
this case. The great congregation of the two churches seemed, with one 
heart and one mind, to regret his departure. AVe w T ere glad to see Rev. 
Mr. Butler's congregation so demonstrative, and Dr. Summerbell will 
doubtless carry away with him a very lively recollection of this remark- 
able meeting. ' 

The principal speakers from the White House were Rev. S. Wright 
Butler, Rev. Gould Anthony, Messrs. Phillips, Bullard, Taber, Chappell, 
Childs, Bliss, and Mrs. Phillips, Bullard, Taber, and others, both of men 
and women, whose names we did not learn. Mrs. Summerbell's moth- 
erly influence, good speaking, and wise counsel were several times 
alluded to, and many expressed the benefit they had derived from her 
counsel.- The prevailing sentiment seems to be that Dr. SummerbeH's. 
departure was not a loss to the church, but to the city of New Bedford. 
We were glad to have such a general expression of sympathy from 
Mr. Butler and his church, as there has been, as far as we are aware, never 
before Dr. Summerbell came here, any such strong expression of Chris- 



NEW BEDFORD FAREWELL 563 

tian communion and fraternal sympathy. We especially admired the 
very warm brotherly and, indeed, in the highest degree, complimentary 
remarks concerning Rev. Dr. Summerbell by Rev. S. Wright Butler. 

The following is an abstract of his farewell sermon at New Bedford, 
March 25, 1883 : 

The day is called Easter: a day of rising; celebrated from times 
immemorial, by the pagans, to honor the passing of the sun, etc. ; 
and by Christians, to honor the resurrection of the Savior. 

I. Cor. 15 : 20, "Now is Christ risen from the dead." 

Easter has come again. The resurrection day has dawned anew ! 

The long winter has passed away. The sun seems leaping up in 
the southern sky. And soon the floral world will be all in bloom. 

The long, dark night of winter cold, — fit emblem of the long, 
darker night when angels watched round the tomb for the rising of 
the Sun of righteousness, to usher in an eternal day, — the night 
of winter is past, and the day of singing birds and summer comes. 

The flowers on this altar remind us of the offering of the women, 
first at the tomb, more than of the coming bloom of spring. 

" Mary to the Savior's tomb 
Hasted at the early dawn ; 
Spice she brought, and sweet perfume." 

The angels said, ' ' He is not here : for he is risen, as he said. Come, 
see the place where the Lord lay. " 

Forty days the dead lived, to comfort and assure his disciples ; then 
ascended to heaven in a cloud of glory. 

How shall we improve our Easter? By thoughts for usefulness; 
by thoughts not of short lif e, and happy death, and rest in heaven ; 
but by thoughts of our opportunity, and our responsibility. 

The great work of the age is to save and to restore Biblical religion. 

" We are living, we are dwelling 
In a grand and awful time, 
In an age on ages telling ; 
To be living is sublime." 

The church of Christ has now existed 1,800 years. It may exist 
on earth after 18,000 years. 
It has its different stages — 

1. The mustard seed for growth. 

2. The leaven, to be as hid in three measures. 

3. Till the whole is leavened. 

It is yet in its infancy ; therefore, we should take care of it. 

God does not hurry, as we do. It was 4,000 years before Christ 
came at first. It maybe 40,000 before the world is ready for his 
second coming. 



564 STJMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

We are to prepare the way of the Lord. Every valley, or sink of 
sin, is to be filled. Every mountain of pride brought low. 

Christ must reign. (I. Cor. 15 : 24-28.) 

Christianity is a heavenly religion. 

Its founder lived in the glories of heaven during untold ages before 
coming to earth. He was the active person in the formation of the 
universe, creating all things according to the word of God. 

He literally brought the great principles of heaven down to earth, 
and established a church on the heavenly model, called beautifully 
"the kingdom of heaven." 

The religions of the world in that day were most unlike heaven. 
They were the outgrowth of politics, and embraced all the corrup- 
tions incident to politics. 

The key-note of Christ's new religion is seen in his prayer, ' ' Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 1 ' It is 
the heavenly church, the heavenly brotherhood, the heavenly family. 

Everything of heaven is beautiful. God loves the beautiful. That 
alone is good : beautiful thoughts, beautiful colors, beautiful charac- 
ter, beautiful conduct. 

There is terror in the storm ; but the sunshine is beautiful. 

There is power in the battle ; but peace is beautiful. 

Beautiful sky ! beautiful stars ! beautiful sea ! beautiful land ! beau- 
tiful flowers! beautiful fruit! beautiful painting! beautiful poetry! 
beautiful form and beautiful features ! beautiful spirit and beautiful 
religion ! 

God adorned the world with beauty, and burnished the heavens 
with beauty. The tabernacle in the ivilderness was beautiful. The 
garments of Aaron were beautiful. The temple was adorned with 
beauty : it had its beautiful curtains, and its beautiful gate. Beauti- 
ful, "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mt. Zion." 

Only sin is vile and ugly. All that is true is beautiful. 

The lonely prairie is beautiful with wild flowers: the lonely 
sea with its beautiful dolphin. Beautiful birds in the air warble 
beautiful songs morning and evening, and morning and evening are 
beautiful. 

The darkest cloud has a silver lining, and the darkest night a 
beautiful morning. 

Beautiful character adorns even death. 

When Sir Harry Vane, -who with equal courage resisted king and 
Cromwell, was dragged up Tower Hill to be beheaded, one cried, 
"You never sat on a seat of so much glory." 

When Lord Russell was drawn through the streets of London to 
execution in an open carriage, to awe the people, the people imagined 
Liberty and Virtue sitting by his side. 

We contemplate the sufferings of Christ to-day in the light of the 
"glory that is to follow." 



NEW BEDFORD FAREWELL 565 

The unbeautiful thing is sin. The blot on the fair page of the 
universe is rebellion against God. 

Sin, suffering, and death are the three darts: great enemies of 
man. All are unlovely, terrible. 

Correspondingly greater must be the glory of one who can remove 
these evils from the universe. 

Who can do it? 

God's Son. 

The Savior can do it ; but his religion must not be marred. 

To work for God, all must be heavenly. 

Human religion forever returns to its normal form, and becomes 
no better than the original pagan form. 

The first Christian church was founded at Jerusalem. The first 
church was "of one accord," or "one heart and one soul." Its only 
creed was the Bible. The first meeting-houses were the temple and 
the synagogue. The worship followed the divine model of the 
Hebrew worship; of singing, prayer, reading the Scriptures, and 
preaching. Jesus, the Lord, introduced singing at the communion, 
and St. Paul enjoins upon Christians, "psalms, hymns, and spiritual 
songs." 

The first formal confession of faith is recorded in Matt. 16:18: 

That Jesus is — 

1. The Christ. 

2. The Son of 

3. The Living God. 

Baptism was an emblematical burial in water, and rising again, 
significant of being dead to sin, and raised with Christ; and took 
place, usually, as soon as the sinner was converted. "Then they 
that gladly received his word were baptized." (Acts 2: 41.) 

Their fellowship included all saints. There were no divisions, no 
Methodists, no Catholics, no Congregationalists : all were Christians. 

The church was organized for a world-long war on sin. She was 
beautiful in holiness, her garments white — 

"Such was the church, the sacred place, 
Seat of the Great Creator's grace." 

Prayer, as with her Redeemer, was the power of the church. 
They met in the temple for prayer, and preaching for the salvation 
of the world. They met in the synagogue for prayer. They met at 
Mary's house for prayer; and at the riverside for prayer. When 
imprisoned they had midnight prayer. They prayed day and night 
everywhere. 

In their public worship we see a beautiful example of what a 
Christian church should be. The sabbath arrives: the church is 
assembled : prayer is offered, and songs of devotion to God arise : the 



566 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

preacher expounds the gospel, reading and quoting the Scriptures on 
the character and death of the Savior. He dwells upon the way to 
be saved; calls for confessions, and baptizes the converts. This is 
followed by the hand of fellowship, or laying on of hands. The 
bread of life is broken, and collections for the poor are made. 
Such a church was well called — 

1. The kingdom of God. 

2. The Lamb's bride. 

3. The temple of the living God. 

4. The pillar and ground of truth. 

5. A city set on a hill. 

6. Mt. Zion. 

And represented as — 

7. A woman clothed with the sun. 

8. Fair as the sun, clear as the moon, and terrible as an army 
with banners. 

Her course was majestic in the earth. Her way was strewed with 
palms of victory. Sinners were converted by thousands. Great 
companies of priests were obedient to the faith. Philosophers were 
converted. Nations bowed to the gospel. The great giants of pagan 
literature wrote against it in vain. It was hailed as salvation, the 
power of God, and the wisdom of God, life and immortality: the 
great salvation, the wonderful hope, the destroyer of sin and death. 
The church was everywhere hailed as a heavenly society. 

In those days preaching was earnest and powerful. The preacher 
was a warrior against sin, and the support was not the object. Con- 
verts were expected at every meeting. Baptisms were common, 
night or day, at home or journeying. 

The aim of the church was heavenward, and two-fold: (1) To 
live the heavenly life; (2) to win sinners to go with them. 

Contra. The religions of men were grand in outward pomp; 
temples of wonderful magnificence and splendor; sustained by 
golden wealth of kings, princes, and the great. But piety, morality, 
self-denial, conversion, penitence, and humble prayer were almost 
unknown. All religion in the power of unconverted politicians and 
worldly men tends to this state of things. They naturally desire a 
religion of money, of pomp, and show: a lyceum; a theater in 
scenery ; a place of entertainment. The tendency is to the glory of 
this world. It is natural. 

Christ's own religion would be thus subverted. Would the saints 
submit to it? 

The very persons who crucified Christ would have crowned him. 
Satan offered him the throne of the world. Take the world'' s pomp, 
and pride, and amusements into the church, and the world will enter 
with them: but all the religion will be modified. Conversion will 
not be required. Beautifully written essays will be called sermons. 



NEW BEDFORD FAREWELL 567 

Operatic singing will be called worship. Success will not be meas- 
ured by the number of souls saved, but by the ability to pay the 
preacher's salary. 

After the Christian religion became popular, nations adopted it, 
changed it to suit their own desires, appropriated taxes to sustain 
it, ordered every child to be christened into it, and burned every 
man who objected to their wickedness. Of course, such wordly 
religions are not the Christian church, however so called. 

Christ's church is celestial. Its model is its Master. Such as 
Christ was, such his true followers are. Such his true church is. 
Such were the first Christians, the Marys and Marthas, the Pauls 
and Peters, Jameses and Johns. Such was the character of all the 
first preachers, and such was the character of the church that con- 
quered the world. 

It was a religious church, a working church, a holy church, a con- 
verting church, a praying church, an earnest church. 

That church changed the character of the civilized world, and 
Christ's religion is now changing the character of the pagan world. 

But with all the success of Christ's own church, its members loved 
their religion. They were not ashamed to kneel. When Paul was 
leaving the church at Ephesus, they followed him to the waterside, 
and there all kneeled down and prayed. "And when he had thus 
spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all 
wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most 
of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no 
more. And they accompanied him unto the ship." 

The gospel was propagated by preaching. 

In three hundred years, working under the apostolic rules in the 
New Testament, the church had become established as a ruling 
power in the world. It was seized upon by politicians. Church and 
state were united, and the Roman Catholic Church was organized. 

From this time Christians were persecuted unless they joined that 
church. 

In 1529, the Protestant Church was formed by princes, and reli- 
gious liberty began to appear. This was called the Reformation of 
the sixteenth century. It was a contest for a biblical religion and 
freedom. But the contestants then were all Catholics, and each sect 
made a new creed, and adopted a new name, as "Protestants"; and 
persecutions continued, but with less violence. 

None of the new sects supposed that a man had a right to worship 
God according to the dictates of his own conscience. 

This was first proclaimed in America. In 1793, in North Carolina, 
the first church in America was organized on republican principles. 
The following year it came out boldly on the Bible, and in a few years 
churches were organized in various parts of the United States and 
Canada, according to the New Testament model. 



568 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

It was a long struggle from the days of Wickliffe and Luther to 
the days of the American Republic, the days of Adams and Wash- 
ington, of Smith and Purviance. It was three hundred years of 
constant struggle, but the victory was won; and America is the only 
country to-day where there is absolute freedom in religion, and where 
there are purely biblical churches. In other countries there is an 
established state religion, which all must support ; and the extent of 
other freedom is only toleration— to hold what they term dissenting. 
or heretical meetings. 

This church is one of the fruits of the long contest. Here in 
1807 was founded a biblical church, on the broadest principles of 
religious liberty and Bible truth. 

Its name was Christian. 

Its creed was the Bible. 

Its leader was Christ. 

Its denomination was the whole family of God, in heaven and earth. 

Its fellowship was for all Christians. 

Its communion was for every saint. 

Its baptism was in the ancient form of immersion. As at first, — 

"Down in old Jordan's rolling stream 
The Baptist led the holy Lamb, 
And there did him baptize." 

No doctrines of men blemish her worship. 

No unbiblical names of God mar her praise. 

No commandments of men divide her homage. 

No little one is turned from her communion. 

This church, founded on the Bible, Christ being the chief corner- 
stone, I now leave, charging you to take care of it for the Lord. 

The Middle Street Christian Church has long been renowned for its 
many conversions. Many most precious ministers have labored here, 
and God has blessed their labors. Of such were Elders Hix, Smith, 
Morrill, Howe, Taylor, Baker, and others, Thousands have been 
born again here. 

I have received nearly fifty members since I came here,— not two 
and one-half years, — and nearly one hundred and twenty have pro- 
fessed to make the new start, or to start anew. Some of them are 
already regarded among the ablest workers in the church ; and these, 
if all are faithful, are but as drops before the coming showers of 
divine grace. Choose a good minister, and hold up his hands, and 
God will bless you. 

I shall leave you, but what of that ? When we say u good night," 
the morning comes next. When the sun- sets, we think of the mor- 
row. The winter snows introduce the buds of spring. We are in 
a world of changes, but each brings us nearer our Father's house 
above. 



NEW BEDFORD FAREWELL 56£> 

Farewell. 

Be faithful. Remember that the gates of Paradise open of them- 
selves to the faithful. To all, farewell till we meet in heaven. 

My great desire is that (Acts 20 : 2-4-27) "I might finish my course 
with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, 
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know 
that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, 
shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this 
day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not 
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." 

He left the church at New Bedford in excellent working order, and in 
April, 1883, removed to Yellow Springs, Ohio, with the intention of 
making no more change of residence during his life. 

All questions agitating the religious leaders of the day were to him of 
interest, and we find the following from his pen in the Herald of Gospel 
Liberty of November 6, 1884 : • 

THE SEVEN LOST BOOKS. 

It is truly interesting to consider that from the books of the Old 
Testament we are forced to deduct seven as lost, and in our canon 
name no writer before Moses, who was born some twenty-five hun- 
dred or two thousand years down the ages of the world. Zechariah, 
in Luke 1 : 70, supposes God to have spoken of Christ by prophets 
"since the world began," which, if we do not confine the revelations 
to oral inspiration, would lead us to suppose that Moses, after the 
world had existed twenty -five hundred years without a written reve- 
lation of God's will, was not the first writer. Indeed, Jude 14 seems 
very plainly to intimate that somewhere, at sometime, there was a 
record made of prophecy away back as far as in the days of Adam ; 
nor is there any text in the Bible contradicting this, and therefore we 
may suppose a book of Enoch, and even other books now lost, were 
compiled while Adam was yet living. I have no doubt in my own 
mind that Genesis was written in parts, — that is, in several books, — 
and all before the days of Moses. But the style of Enoch's prophecy 
does not correspond with any part of Genesis, and therefore I name 
it a lost book. Besides Enoch, we have some six books named which 
are lost — namely, Nathan, Jasher, Ahijah, Shemaiah, Jehu, Iddo; 
or counting Enoch, there are seven — Nathan, Enoch, Jasher, Ahi- 
jah, Shemaiah, Jehu, Iddo. There are also to be remembered "the 
ten lost tribes"; Paradise and even Eden lost. The word "lost" is 
not a strange word in the Bible ; but, reader, may none in future ages 
truthfully reckon our names among the lost. N. S. 

The following article appeared in the Herald oj Gospel Liberty of 
December 11, 1884: 



570 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



THE BIBLE. 



The first Christians — I mean those who lived eighteen hundred 
years ago — used no book as authority in church matters but. the 
"Scriptures," and counted these sufficient "for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness : that the man of God 
may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.* 1 The 
Christians of the nineteenth century, following this celestial example, 
take the Scriptures as their infallible rule of faith and duty. And to 
this rule every minister and member is understood to stand pledged. 
No man is or should be received into a Christian Church who denies 
the Bible, its doctrine, its God, its Christ, its Spirit, or its truths. 
The Bible is our creed, our constitution, our discipline, our rule of 
faith and duty, our early lesson, and our ultimate appeal. This being 
so, no man has any claim to membership in the body who rejects the 
Book.% He has a right to study, to interpret, to explain, but not to 
deny. Of course tins does not cut off honest, friendly criticism con- 
cerning verbal errors of translation, which are admissible by all de- 
nominations. When he finds a higher authority, a more sacred rule, 
a, better guide, it is his duty to disavow his profession at his initiation 
into the church and dissolve his connection. The Christians have a 
God who alone is always God, infinite in every possible excellence. 
They have a Savior, God's Son, "who, being in the form of God, 
thought it not robbery to be equal with God : but made himself of no 
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made 
in the likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, he hum- 
bled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him 
a name which is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every 
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." They have their 
sacred books ; and none of these things are to be belittled or preached 
against in Christian pulpits. 

But this article, or my or any man's interpretation, is liable to criti- 
cism, or absolute denial, as a fair statement. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



He bought the property on High Street, in which he finally died, in 
Yellow Springs. He was still active in the ministry; but his mind was 
now turning to his own departure, as we find from the following lines 
written on the back of a telegram addressed to himself (to go to Milford 
Center, Ohio, to preach a funeral sermon) ; and from the date of that tel- 
egram, left carelessly among his papers, we know that it must have been 
written after September 15, 1884: 



WHERE ARE THEY 571 

WHERE ARE THEY? 

Where are now the honored names 

Which of yore adorned these pages; 
Walter, Millard, Ladley, Smith, 

Christian heroes, Christian sages ? 

Tell me where the stars are gone 

Following the setting sun 
Westward, ere the night is done; 

They go down, all, one by one. 

But the stars appear again 

Nightly to our watchful eyes. 
When, O, when shall these appear, 

Filling us with glad surprise ? 

Worley, Humphreys, Clough, Kinkade, 

Plummer, Douglas, Hix, and Hayes, 
Reeder, Ross, Purviance, Gardner, 

Standing in the Christian ways, 

Craig and Holland, Clough and Long, 
Shaw and Chadwick, bold and strong; 
Once familiar in these pages 
Where are now these Christian sages ? 

Christians, as they close their day, 

Follow then their Lord to rest, 
As the stars at close of day 

Sink beneath the distant West, 

Following the king of day. 

Through the lapse of countless ages 
Rise the stars each coming day 

In a round of ceaseless stages! 

But return of day, nor night, 

Brings again these loved names, 
Wellons, Wasson, Wagoner, 

O'Kelly, Jones, and Burlingames. 

When the Sun of righteousness 

Rises in eternal light, 
Then as suns shall these appear 

Shining in their Savior's light. 

Hail, O, hail the coming Son! 

Hail the great eternal light! 
Hail the morn when night is done! 

Hail the saints in glory bright! 



572 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

His public activities were in no degree lessened, though he had desired 
to consider himself as preparing for the end of his life. The following is 
a draft of a lecture which he delivered at Antioch College on December 
2, 1885, which illustrates his happy and original way of enlivening and 
quickening any subject to which he gave his attention, when addressing 
mixed congregations: 

OUR GIRLS. 

To the Lecture Committee, Professors, and Students; To the Girls: 
of Antioch, Cadets. 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

"Martha was troubled about many things"; 
" Mary sat at Jesus' feet," learning. 

Learning is light. The poet says : 

"Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night. 
God said, ' Let New T ton be'; and all was light." 

The lecture to-night will be in the spirit of the following quotations 
from the greatest Avriters : 

James Russell Lowell says : "Earth's noblest thing is woman per- 
fected." 

Eaton S. Barrett says : 

" Not she with trait'rous kiss her Savior stung, 
Not she denied him with unholy tongue ; 
She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave, 
Last at the cross, and earliest at the grave." 

Shakespeare writes : 

"From woman's eyes the doctrine I derive: — 
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire." 

Wordsworth says : 

"A perfect woman, nobly planned 
To warn, to comfort, and command." 

Gibbon says : 

"In every age the stronger of the two sexes has usurped the powers of 
the state, and confined the other to the cares and duties of domestic life." 

Most of the charitable endowments of England were designed by 
the founders for girls, as well as boys. But they have been generally 
appropriated to the boys. 

But schools are now opening for girls. Russia finds attending one 
college lecture, 2,500 ladies. A superior school for girls is being 
founded in Florence, Italy. A medical school in India! And all 
over the world woman appears claiming appropriate education. In 



OUR GIRLS 573 

America, college doors of the first class are opening for women every 
year ; and she is rapidly growing in favor for place and position. 

Permit me to congratulate myself on the privilege of speaking to 
college girls on this 2d of December, 1885. December, 1785, few 
would have believed that such an event could ever transpire. - A little 
more than fifty years ago, no college doors were open to girls. 
Now the girls come as candidates for the highest honors, literary and 
■scientific, preparing to fill the chairs of future faculties, to be 
preachers, teachers, and to fill the learned professions. I welcome 
you, as fellow-citizens of the republic of letters, pilgrims in the path 
of literature, amazons in the army of science. Hasten to the rescue ; 
the world waits for your service. 

As I look upon you, I remember the first noble teachers of Antioch 
College. I was present at Enon, September, 1852, when the follow- 
ing able men were chosen to the faculty : Hon. Horace Mann, LL.D., 
president, (retiring from congress to serve the college); Rev. Wm. 
H. Doherty, A.M. ; Ira W. Allen, A.M. ; Rev. Thomas Holmes, 
A.M.; C. S. Pennell, A.M.; Miss R. M. Pennell; Rev. A. L. Mc- 
Kinney, A.M. ; Hon. Judge Miller, and others. 

I was present when the corner-stone was laid, in June, 1852. 

I was present when it was dedicated, October 5, 1853, and saw the 
venerable I. N. Walter deliver the keys to Horace Mann. 

At a later period, I was pastor of the church, and weekly had in my 
congregation such noble men as Messrs. Mann, Doherty, Allen, Pen- 
nell, Mc Kinney, and such noble women, professors in college, as Miss 
Pennell and Mrs. Holmes. 

This was the first college that opened its faculty to women pro- 
fessors. 

In real earnest, ladies and gentlemen of the lecture committee, when 
your charming chairman proposed tl Our Girls " as the subject of this 
lecture, I determined, if possible, to make no mistake on the subject, 
and turned to Webster for the true and classical meaning of the word 
■Girls. But Webster seemed to know little more about it than I. He 
almost pleads ignorance, saying, ' ' The origin of the word is not ob- 
vious/' Next he proposed that "The word (girls) was probably left 
in England by the Romans." Then he said that "The word was 
formerly used for both sexes. 11 Please, therefore, if I say anything 
offensive to the girls, to attribute it to the boys, a la Webster. 

On further investigation, I was assured that girls, though formerly 
debarred from college, as inferior to boys, possessed brain and heart, 
intellect, conscience, religious devotion, abstract reason, the desire of 
knowledge, moral discernment, love of the beautiful, modesty, capa- 
city for intellectual culture, a sense of justice and humanity, charity, 
faith, virtue, truth, natural affection, and a sense of wrong; indeed 
the capacity for every achievement in science to which humanity may 
aspire. She is physically smaller, but more delicately formed. The 



574 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

texture of her system is finer, her nerves more active, her moral 
feeling more sensitive, her heart more hopeful, her mind more elastic, 
her thought less gloomy; she is more enduring, and suffers more 
without murmuring. 

Remember that every girl should seek equal improvement in man- 
ners and letters. Colleges to educate in intellectuality, and not 
morally, are factors of evil, and not of good. "It is a fraud on reli- 
gion " for wicked-hearted students to seek intellectual culture in col- 
leges founded and sustained by religious people. It is moral suicide 
for students to neglect their religious culture. 

Man was created king of the earth; 

But needy then, 
(Woman made for his help), 

There help began. 

Woman is our life poetry, 

And man the prose ; 
He the strong forest oak, 

And she the rose. 

Man has the towering form, 

Woman the face. 
Man has the giant strength, 

Woman the grace. 

Man's part is the tragedy ; 

But women sing. 
Man has the earthly power, 

Woman the wing. 

Mention a home in heaven, 

Women arise, 
Pluming the wing of faith 

For Paradise. 

It is not always that strength is preferred. There is a story of 
Athens, the eye of Greece, on the iEgean shore, on the old limestone 
rock, out of which its citizens hewed walls, leveled the pavements, 
formed the benches and steps, dug out by chisels to cisterns and other 
objects of utility or beauty ; it is said that when the question arose on 
the name of the city, Minerva and Olympus contended for the name. 
And when it was decided to the one bringing the most precious gift, 
Olympus brought a Avar horse, emblem of war ; and Minerva an olive 
tree, emblem of peace. The people decided in favor of Minerva. 
Learn by this that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle 
to the strong. But the olive of truth and good, comfort and peace, 
must be preferred to the huge power of war. 

Woman is coming to the front as never before ; and the uneducated 
girl will soon be marked as a cipher in society — perhaps "left by the 



OUR GIRLS 575 

Romans " — wliile her educated sister will alone be powerful and re- 
spected. The nineteenth century is called the Woman's Era. A new 
era ! Woman is ever prominent in a new era : 

1. Eve engrossed the leading interest of Eden in the first "new 
era." 

2. The patriarchal age began with angels holding conferences with 
women ; Hagar and Sarah were both known to the angels. 

3. When Israel started from Egypt to Canaan, Miriam, the proph- 
etess, was a principal leader. 

4. On the founding of the new era of Christianity, God said, " On 
my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out ... of my Spirit ; 
and they shall prophesy." 

5. Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna, were all inspired to prophesy at 
the nativity. 

6. To women Jesus first revealed himself after the resurrection, 
and sent them as the first preachers to his disciples. 

7. The woman at' Jacob's well first received the gospel for her 
people, and the men of Samaria believed on the "word of the woman " 
(John 4: 39). 

8. Lydia, of Philippi, was St. Paul's first convert in Europe. 

9. Women are counted with men in the revival at Pentecost. 

10. On St. Paul's last journey toward Jerusalem, the last long 
visit he ever made in a family, was at a house in Samaria, where 
there were four girls of one family, all inspired preachers, called 
prophetesses. (Acts 21 : 7-9). 

11. Even the new version of the Bible seems providentially to pro- 
vide for this new era, by restoring to woman her place in the 68th 
Psalm. 

The old version reads: "The Lord gave the word: great was the 
company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace : 
and she that tarried at home divided the spoil." 

The new version reads : ' ' The Lord giveth the word : the women 
that published the tidings are a great host. The kings of armies flee, 
they flee : and she that tarrieth at home divideth the spoil. " 

Woman's power is wonderful ! It is on record that female clerks of 
the Government departments who handle money are most reliable. 
No words can so adequately describe the forward movement of the 
temperance cause when the women came to the front as its advocates 
as the new version of the 68th Psalm : "The Lord giveth the word : 
the women that publish the tidings are a great host. The kings of 
armies flee, they flee: and she that tarrieth at home divideth the 
spoil." 

Wherever women have appeared as earnest leaders, they have been 
a power. 

They have won the crown of superiority as teachers in the juvenile 
classes of the nation's schools. 



576 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Girls have conquered also in the domain of the Sunday school. The 
first Sunday school in England, eleven years prior to Robert Raikes, 
was founded and taught in 1770, by Catharine Cappe. The Sunday 
schools of Robert Raikes date 1781. In 179-1, a little maid of eleven 
years, named Sarah Colt, of New Jersey, started a Sunday school in 
Patterson, in which she had sixty scholars. This girl of eleven con- 
tinued her Sunday-school work for forty years. 

Nineteen out of twenty-one of the first Sunday schools were started 
by girls, and seven-tenths of the influence is still with the girls. 

And , to-day the most powerful temperance organization in the 
United States is the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. 

All along, down the ages, women were deprived of education, by 
the prudence of men. Man feared that educated woman would be 
less manageable; and in this presumption he was right. The edu- 
€ated girl challenges respect; men bow to her, not from politeness 
merely, but from respect to her intelligence. She is queen in society ; 
not a mere creature. They regard her not as a pet or plaything or a 
beautiful animal, made for man's amusement, to be fondled and trifled 
with, then sink to a menial or slave; but, educated and cultured, the 
girl is regarded as superior ; superior as woman, the last link in cre- 
ation, next to the angels, worthy to be man's companion in mental 
capacity, and superior in moral purity. 

The Bible gives woman her true position (new version, Ps. 68 : 11) ; 
God gives the word ; women publish the tidings. Of old, the battle 
was with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood. In future, it 
is to be Christian hearts, yielding to the cry of humanity: "Rachel, 
weeping for her children " ; Miriams guarding their brothers. Saith 
God, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Let them 
prepare : " Prepare ye the way of the Lord." 

Looking over the world's history, one set of names salutes the rising 
morn of future ages, and all the rest are in dark oblivion laid. These 
names form a class. Of such are Miriam, Huldah, Priscilla, Arti- 
mesia, Aspasia the learned, Cornelia, Hypatia ; or of modern names, 
Mrs. Hannah Moore, Mrs. Stowe, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Sigourney, 
Mrs. Childs. 

It is for the girls of Antioch to elect for themselves whether their 
names shall live in the lists with these immortals, or be blotted from 
earth's archives after a few years. 

" There is a grandeur in the soul that dares 
To live out all the life God lit within." 

Remember, learning and goodness must conquer the world ; and if 
you are learned and good, you shall be one of the conquerors. 

Shall we contemplate a picture of society with the condition of the 
sexes reversed, and then compare the standard ? 
• We may imagine a community governed by Amazons ! where the 



OUR GIRLS 577 

'women are in authority, women own the property, women hold office, 

"women vote and sit as judges ; where the girls only are educated, and 
what history says of women (as follows) is true of the men. I will 

: read it. Lord Macaulay says, "If there is a word of truth in history, 
women have always been, and still are, over the greatest part of the 
globe, humble companions, playthings, captives, menials, beasts of 
burden. " " Except in a few happy and highly civilized communities, 
they are strictly in a state of personal slavery." Such is the picture. 
Let us look at it : Imagine our beautiful country with women every- 
where in the ascendant, as men are now ; the president a woman, col- 
leges with women presidents and professors; women the educated 

• class ; girls off to college, all boys at home plowing ; officers of state, 
senators, legislators, members of the cabinet, foreign ministers, law- 
yers, doctors, preachers, teachers, all women! men being domestics, 
laborers, watclunen,. constables, soldiers, sailors, servants! the beauti- 
ful marriage ceremony reversed to read, "Who gives this man," etc., 
and the man promising to "love, honor, and obey her." 

In such a state, who can doubt that the morals of society would be 
improved ? that woman would govern with queenly grace, and man, 
uneducated man be, and appear, inferior? And what but man's 
superior strength prevents such results ? 

Come and see another picture, in the country called Eden. There 
we find the first girl ; her name is Eve Adam. She is the highest link 
in the creation. The order was, first material things and vegetables ; 
then reptiles, birds, and fishes; next the beasts of the earth; next 
man ; and as the finality, woman. Man needed help ; and woman 
was created as his help — help, I doubt not, heavenward. This was 
the first girl ; doubtless the perfection of truth and beauty, physical, 
mental, and spiritual. She married young. But she did well. In 
truth, her husband was the first man of the age. She could not have 
done better. See her stand sublime, the work of her Maker ! Man's 
helper ! In her normal state we find no sign of inferiority. For aught 
we know, she lived a hundred years in her sinless state; for when 
: Seth was born, to comfort for loss of Abel, Adam and Eve were one 
hundred and thirty years old ! She still lived on, long ; and but one — 
one sin is recorded of her. And that sin was not from or for vicious 
desire, nor did she yield at first ; but when she saw that the tree (1) 
was good for food, (2) and pleasant to the taste, (3) and to be desired 
to make one wise, she ate. The first girl was thus the first to make 
a great sacrifice for wisdom ; and she started a school, and taught 
Adam ; and being his help, and finding the fruit good for food, gave 
to Adam, of whom she seemed to have charge, and he did eat. There 
was no wrong in her desire for food, nor in her desire for wisdom, nor 
in feeding Adam ; but the sin was in obtaining unlawfully, contrary 
to the command of God, as thousands do daily. Of course, her hus- 
band did as she told him to. 
37 



578 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Her husband was not her help, but she Ins. He did not lead, but 
followed her. He did not plead double guilt as her guardian might, 
but pleaded that he obeyed his wife. This docility proves that woman, 
in her normal state, was not inferior to man ; man did not answer for 
her; she answered her Creator for herself! She did not lay the guilt 
on man, but he on her. She might have said, ' ' He did not take care 
of me, did not support me, " and might have brought suit for divorce, 
in that she fed him ; but she did not. Those who place the responsi- 
bility on Eve, confess that man was not her governor. She answered 
her Creator for herself, as her daughters have done for six thousand 
years. 

If, as believed, it be an immutable law of nature to restore every- 
thing to its original, then the condition of the first girl, prior to sin, 
is the normal state of woman. 

Remember this, we want the girls of Antioch to assume this origi- 
nal responsibility. 

But remember that a want of intellectual sympathy includes the 
want of any common standard of equality. Intellectual inferiority 
warrants social and political inferiority. 

Remember, girls, Eve's paradise is yours to regain. 

In the Bible picture of girls, notice first, to the right, Naamah, the 
blacksmith's sister. Her brother's name was Tubal Cain, called by 
the Greeks Vulcan, the god of smiths. Her, they name Yenus, the 
goddess of beauty. Naamah signifies beauty ; Ada signifies pleasure ; 
Sarah, a princess. Then Rebecca, who set her pitcher down to wed 
the son of Abraham. Next, a little to the front, see the beautiful 
Rachel, who married Jacob, and whose death is marked by the sweet- 
est poetry. Then comes Miriam, the sweet sister of Moses, first 
named of the girls who were singers. Next, to the right, is Huldah, 
the Prophetess, who dwelt at Jerusalem, to whom kings and priests 
appealed to know the will of the Creator. 

This lesson teaches us that the beautiful names belong to beautiful 
character, and that, in every age, those who study to be useful and 
labor become leaders, and their names, their beautiful names, are em- 
balmed in the world's memory. So it may be with yours, if you labor 
on. Do not give up the prize." By the easy lessons of the classes, 
you appropriate as your own the knowledge gained by the hand of 
experience of all past ages. 

To rest your minds, come take a walk with me now through the 
classic hall of the ancient sages and artists, and see how they deified 
under every beautiful name: the muses, graces, fortune, fates, for 
comely form and beauty's grace, the pleasing, charming eloquence ; 
Melete, Mneme, Erato, Thalia, Euterpe, Atrapo(s), Caliope, Melpo- 
mene. We only name a representative few, suited to the subject. 

Greece seemed for a time the eye of the intellectual world. Theirs 
were the philosophers, the poets, the sculptors, the orators, the grace 



OUR GIRLS 579 

of form and movement and eloquence of speech ; and every excellence 
of virtue, wisdom, eloquence, physical form, or ideal beauty, has its 
ideal deity ; and almost every perfection of virtue was presented in 
the most fascinating forms of beauty, represented as virgins. 

Not a greatness of the human soul but was perfected in form, and 
sculptured in stone, personified in mortals, and deified. Persevering 
industry, with her spindle ; deep study, with the statue of meditation ; 
every grace, glory, and beauty they deified. Let it be yours, young 
ladies of Antioch, to surpass the Greek ideal, in the living soul of true 
greatness. 

The prehistoric Greeks adopted beautiful names for their girls: 
Thalia meant joy; Erato meant loveliness; Caliope meant eloquence; 
Melpomene meant music; Terpsichore meant graceful motion. 
True, these were ideal girls deified ; but each girl gifted with genius 
might imitate the best. It is a pleasing thought for the young ladies 
that all graces and virtues were represented by girls. 

1. Melete, or, as we would say, Meditation, is represented as a 
beautiful maid with a countenance of consideration, with head 
thoughtfully inclined, partially resting upon her open fingers or hand. 
She represents a person considering, What is for the bestf a young 
lady involved in deep thought. She is the diligent student. 

2. While thus rapt in deep meditation, an older sister appears to 
render her assistance. The name of this queenly goddess is Mneme, 
or as we speak it, 3Iemory. Byron says : 

"She was a form of life and light 
That seen, became a part of sight, 
And rose, where'er I turned mine eye, 
The morning star of memory." 

Meditation always calls memory to aid her; for memory is the 
queen of mind. Thought can do nothing without memory. You 
must not only meditate, but remember. Memory must be your chief 
companion in every lesson. 

3. Aoide we would call Song. She excelled in the sweetness of 
voice. But as song was the ancient manner of teaching, that is, the 
lesson was sung or recited for the benefit of others, so, with us the 
meaning is, the result of study ; or reducing what we know to prac- 
tice, utilizing it. For knowledge is acquired not to fade from the 
memory, but to be reduced to practice. 

The Graces did not live for themselves, but for others ; they live to 
adorn those who are worthy. Study the picture well, that you may 
secure the treasures. 

1. Thalia, or the blooming, presides over the physical form, to 
impart beauty, grace, and health. Her rules are purification and 
cleanliness, pure air for the supply of oxygen for the lungs, correct 
habits and exercise. 



580 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

2. Aglaia adds to the bloom of Thalia, Brilliancy. The key to 
her treasure is offered to every student on entering the college ; its 
name is Excelsior. The motto is, 

Not only do well 
But always excel. 

3. Euphrosyne, you see at the left, as if just appearing. Her 
name signifies Happiness, with which she always endeavors to re- 
ward the diligent student of her philosophy. 

The Fates are three girls who preside over the fortunes of our ex- 
istence. 

1. Lachesis carries a spindle, signifying that she supplies the 
thread of life. 

2. Clotho carries the thread, signifying that she is our present 
monitor. 

3. Atropos, or the Past, with her scissors cuts the thread of life. 
These poetically accompany every one of you every hour. Lachesis 

spins out your time ; Clotho urges you to good deeds ; and Atropos 
fixes your fate according to your. life. 

The Fates we do not recognize ; they are only names for God's 
grace and your endeavor. With their aid, you make life what it is 
— one becomes a lady and learned; another useless, a siren or sloth. 
Such is life when finished ; it is fate. 

Nymphs represent goddesses of rural scenes ; as meadows, rivers, 
mountains, woods, spring", beauty, youth. 

Lowest of all were the Sirens. These were considered lower in 
morals than the muses — idle and vicious. The Muses, plucking their 
feathers and driving them away, represent the contest between virtue 
and vice, the idle and vicious being driven from society. 

The Naiads and Nymphs are seen as girls of inferior rank ; and 
their home was in the meadows, streams, groves, and fountains. 
They were the guardian angels of infants and innocence. Scott 
likens the "Lady of the Lake" to these, saying: 

"In listening mood she seemed to stand, 
The guardian naiad of the strand. 
***** 

"And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace 
A nymph, a naiad, or a grace, 
Of finer form, or lovelier face." (4:88.) 

Our religion furnishes in angels unseen joyous powers ; yet still the 
poet cries, "My muse inspire." 

The Sirens avoided care, and would do nothing all day but comb 
their hair, and sing, and play. They were daughters of the river 
god, and rich and free. They supposed that no voices could with 



OUR GIRLS 581 

theirs compare ; and when Orpheus sang, and played on his flute and 
lyre, they were so mortified at their poor voices that they flung them- 
selves into the sea and turned to rocks, which still lured sailors to 
ruin, as did their songs before. 

• It is diligent hand and diligent head which promise to Antioch girls 
a better fate. For them I augur a brilhant future, when leading; 
princely women will be proud to say, "My alma mater is Antioch." 
Yet some girls would be worthless, I question not. 

Some girls there be (we will not name 'em), 

Who need adversity to tame 'em; 

Who most delight to equal boys 

In idle talk and silly noise; 

Who go to college, not for books, 

But cranky tricks and cunning looks, 

And pleasure seek in idle pastime. 

They idle stand while others pass, climb 

The hill of science, and look down, 

To see below the silly clown. 

Yet these aspire to spend their days 

With those who walk in Wisdom's ways. 

Vain hope! Such girls the time may see, 

When looking back to days of sport 

(For fun 's the paradise of fools), 

Fools only walk in Folly's ways, 

And find that Folly's ways are short. 

The value of the idle time spent by useless women is not to be 
calculated, as some do, as merely equal to the expenditure of men in 
tobacco, but rather by the revenue of the time, if improved, com- 
puted thus : What untold millions are annually lost by idleness ? 
Who can estimate the increased moral, mental, and physical wealth 
of our country, if all the idle hands and idle heads were employed, 
like those of Aspasia, of Egypt ; Cornelia, of Rome ; Hannah Moore, 
of England ; Mrs. Hosmer, Mrs. Childs, Mrs, Livermore, or Harriet 
Beecher Stowe, or Mrs. Hayes, of our own country ? 

In future days, girls now at college will remember youth's golden 
opportunities; some with joy, and some with grief. Some will 
remember the college as a place of moral self -discipline and mental 
culture; others as misimproved time. Some will scholars make — 
great in themselves and the joy and pride of their friends ; others 
will, perhaps, be ignorant imbeciles, a load to carry, useless incum- 
brances, whose principal occupation will be to dress, and eat, and talk. 

Ring the bells! Sound the trumpets! A new era salutes the 
coming morn. The nineteenth century will witness a new civiliza- 
tion, with women in every department sharing in the work. We 
shall have women ministers, women as well as men representatives, 



582 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

women college presidents, women lawyers in every county-seat; 
women physicians in every village, women preachers in every vil- 
lage. Women will be noted as merchants, eminent in science, and 
surpass as jurists. 

And we greet the girls of Antioch as harbingers of that brilliant, 
day. They are knocking at the college door. Come, see the pic- 
ture of — 

MAY I? 

A little maiden conies tripping along, 
Full of grace, and prattle, and song; 
Eager and anxious at brother's side, 
Turning her face her blushes to hide. 

A little birdie-looking creature, 

Full of hope in every feature — 

Smiling lips and anxious eyes, 

Young in years and small in size, 

Sweetest voice and winning grace, 

Hopeful look and loving face. 
To her brother ever saying, 
To the college ever praying: 
"Tell me, teacher, please, may I 
Come to college ? please, may If 

May I study with my brother? 

I will be a faithful scholar ; 

I will take the lowest seat ; 

I will take the hardest lesson ; 

I will for no prize compete; 

I will only be a scholar; 

I will take the hardest task, — 

Only let me — all I ask. 

May I? May I? 

Who is this little May If Brother, sister, did you leave her at 
home ? or is she here to-night ? Do you know a little May If Bring 
her when you come again. Do parents know one who desires to 
come ? Bring her ! 

In vain we educate the men, while we neglect the women, if we 
desire moral improvement, religion, and civilization. Man will sink 
below the woman's level ever. To exalt him, therefore, we must 
educate our girls. 

The peculiarity of woman is that she naturally prefers the good, 
the humane, the beautiful, the true ; ' and where she is educated, she 
will control society and lift it up. Nothing is more apparent than 
the respect which an educated lady receives. Men do not attempt to 
trifle with her. Her essential moral nature, assisted by appropriate 
classical culture, makes her the queen of society, and gives a moral 
influence which drives the serpent tempter from her paradise. 



OUR GIRLS 583 

Were girls generally as well educated as the boys, they would 
purify the morals, and exalt the manners of all society. 

Girls of Antioch, I appeal to you to seek the highest scholarship ! 

'"Tis education forms the common mind : 
Just as the twig is bent the tree 's inclined." 

Thus a pedagogue was lecturing, when an "old bachelor" rose to 
'explain. He seemed fifty years old, and had passed for thirty the 
last twenty years. He was of the genus Bachelor ; species, chronic ; 
old, old bachelor, it having struck in on him. They say that he is 
insane on girls, and had spent a large sum of money (nearly two 
dollars, including the ticket ) for this single lecture. He had bought 
a bottle of hair dye for his whiskers, an ounce of cloves for his 
breath, a paper collar and two paper cuffs, two sleeve buttons (both 
yellow, five cents ) , one pair of kid gloves, and one rattan cane ; a 
pair of nose-glasses (horn frames — he can see best without glasses 
in them), and brushed his clothes with the broom, bought his ticket, 
took his seat. Then, when the time came, arose, stroked his beard, 
pulled up his paper collar, pulled down his paper cuffs, and said : 

1 ; Mr. President ( then curled his mustache, pulled down his paper 
cuffs, fumbled his watchguard, and proceeded ) ; Mr. President, l rise 
to a question of order. The gentleman speaks of girls — we have no 
.girls now. We once had girls, but they are all women now. 

"Ere out of their teens they are ready for wives, 
And dress, sir, within an inch of their lives, 
With tight shoes (and wry face), 
• High heels and clumsy pace. 

Tkey quarrel with mother on shades of propriety, 

And think her too old to go into society. 

Misses at ten as old as their mothers; 

Diplomatic connoisseurs, trading in brothers. 

At eleven, conclude they have got enough learning, 

And wonder at others to college returning. 

At twelve, like some fairy queen spending the Sunday, 

With headache, hysterics, and sleeping blue Monday — 

Peevish, and fretful, and cross to her brother. 

As old at fifteen as her aged grandmother. 

On Tuesday just able to sit in the parlor, 

While mother works for angelic daughter. 

At sixteen, — " 

"Silence, I say," cried the teacher, and handed the foolish man 
the following paper : 

From the Overland Mail — The king of Ashantee, a kingdom in Africa, 
has ordered that two hundred girls be prepared for slaughter, to furnish 
blood to mix the mortar to be used in preparing the state buildings. — 
July 16, 1884. 

The Bachelor — I, sir, am not responsible for that." 
Tl\e Teacher — "True; but that proves that there are girls now. 
And as you seemed to be cutting them up at a terrible rate, perhaps 
you may find employment in his majesty's dominions ; and I advise 
not to delay to finish your speech here, but to emigrate at once." 



584 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

When Oberlin, Antioch, and Merom opened their doors wide to> 
girls, old college presidents and professors were amazed and angered, 
and nearly all supposed one sad decade would serve to explode the 
experiment. That decade passed, and another, and the wise old 
pilgrims were seen, staff in hand, following in the same direction. 

Other nations are ranging into line. In 1867, Madame Conrade, a 
Russian woman of learning, had the courage to present a memorial 
advocating a university for women. This was followed by four 
hundred women petitioning for higher lectures. The result is, a, 
higher university course established, opened with five hundred stu- 
dents, which number has increased to two thousand five hundred, 
and immense buildings are to be erected. 

Do not take pride in idleness. 

Do not dress within an inch of your life. 

Do not indulge in bad habits. 

Do not oppose religion and virtue. 

Do not break nor " crack" any of the commandments. 

Do not encourage rustic or coarse ways. 

Do not talk yourself to death. 

Do not keep secrets from your mother. 

Make "Excelsior" your motto. 

Do not try to hear everything. 

Do not try to tell everything. 

Do not try to know everything. 
But to surpass in something useful, great, and good. 

Get your lessons well. 

Be an ornament to the college. 

Obey your parents — be an ornament to your family. 

Be a blessing to your associates. 

Be an ornament to the church. 

Be faithful to your God. 

Be a blessing to your age ; so that — 

"None may know thee but to love thee: 
None name thee, but to praise." 

Physiology says that woman inspires kind and tender affections, 
and is almost exempt from the worse fierce passions which character- 
ize man. 

"We understand her by her sight. 
The blood speaks in her cheeks 
So distinctly, that one might 
Think that her body thinks." 

Study wisdom. Practice ladylike manners. Hear the instruction 
of your mother. Listen to the counsel of your teacher. Education, 
signifies training. Break off bad habits, whether of acts or words. 
Bad habits cling like serpents, and frequently destroy soul and body.. 



OUR GIRLS 585- 

Avoid recklessness. Avoid bad language. Avoid much visiting. 
Shun bad books and bad company. You can hardly avoid example. 
If your companions are idle, you will be. If they tattle and tell 
stories, so will you. If they use unchaste words, so will you. Re- 
member your child-desires to be good. Be diligent in good deeds. 
Watch every avenue. Sin approaches in disguise, steals on us un- 
awares, little by little it gains its way, and the result is felt when too- 
late. 

When you consider that absolute truth always existed, you will 
infer that man should blush for his ignorance, rather than boast of 
his knowledge. Man, not woman, is responsible for the darkness of 
the past. He entered the temple of knowledge, and locked the door. 

Women have worked wonders, considering their opportunity. Such 
has been their condition : 

1. In all the world they belonged to the men, equal to any other 
property. 

2. In large portions of the world, her life was at the mercy of her 
husband. 

3. Women, except absolute drudges, were compelled to live in se- 
cret, hid from society. 

4. With no voice in government, no vote, no rights which men 
were bound to respect. 

5. Even in enlightened England, a woman could not be married, 
according to the beautiful form of the English Church, unless she 
acknowledged the right of some man to give her to the bridegroom 
("Who gives this woman to this man "). 

6. In most of the world, education was denied, and all doors of 
trust, profit, or honor were closed to the mother, or sister, or wife. 

And yet all along, down the ages, woman has stood as man's com- 
panion, adorning whatever position she could attain to, with a grace 
(in proportion to the numbers) far superior to that of men. What I 
mean is, that in proportion to the number of monarchs of the sexes, 
more women sovereigns have been a blessing to the world than men. 
The same is true of writers, teachers, scientists, preachers. No mon- 
archs have shed more luster on the British throne than Elizabeth and 
Victoria ; none more beloved than Catharine of Russia ; none moro 
grand or brave than Zenobia of Palmyra. Our girls are the purest, 
richest gems in our family. Their competency for culture in learning 
and goodness more than compensates for their delicacy of constitution. 

In the girls, education seldom leads to rudeness, as it too frequently 
does in men. In college they would not drink and smoke, chew and 
spit, plan hazing raids and drunken brawls. Though not perfect, or 
above temptation, they seem constitutionally adapted to learning, cul- 
tivation, science, morality, philanthropy, and religion. The very 
well understood fact in physiology, that the female is of finer texture^ 
is proof that she is capable of a higher polish. 



586 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The common theological opinion that women are by the law ( of 
God ) debarred from the pulpit, is without proof. The law referred 
to by St. Paul must have been the secular law of his day ; for no law 
of God was ever found debarring woman from the pulpit. And, in- 
deed, down to the tenth century they occupied their place in the pul- 
pit ; which, had they continued to do, as generally as in apostolic times, 
when four daughters in one family were preachers, the Dark A§ es of 
cruel persecution would not have succeeded the age of Christian 
charity. 
Let it be remembered by the girls that 

Women were the first inspired persons in the New Testament. 

Women were the first to announce the Savior's coming. 

Women were the first to announce the Savior's resurrection. 

Women were in the first prayer-meeting in Jerusalem. 

Women were among the first preachers at Pentecost. 

Women were the first converts in Judea, Samaria, and Europe. 
The Bible names eight women who were prophetesses, and nowhere 
forbids a woman's preaching. 

But do not you discuss the subject. Prepare for usefulness by a 
thorough education, a full course of study, and the rights will come. 
The Christians have many vacant pulpits needing women preachers. 
Every town needs a female physician ; every county a female lawyer ; 
every capital female legislators; and we need female judges. The 
world is calling for the utilizing of female talent. Girls are found to 
be the best among teachers in our public schools ; the most reliable 
accountants ; the most honest clerks in government departments ; and 
in every part of the world are coming to the front. 

Be Christians. Follow heaven's fashions. Dress neatly, but not 
fussily. Let your adorning be of the mind and heart. Do not ape 
savages, and parade the carcasses of dead birds on your bonnets, or 
crop your hair like a mule's foretop to ape a monkey face. Be 
educated and be useful. Be pretty, but not putty; a picture not 
painted, be yourself. Be earthly angels on a heavenly pattern. 
Don't miss of heaven. A woman, as a wandering star, to whom is 
reserved the blackness of darkness forever, is the most pitiable thing 
imaginable. 

If girls would be great, they must cease to claim inferiority. It is 
decidedly funny to hear a woman Monday pleading equality, and 
Tuesday suing for support ; Wednesday claiming equality with any 
man, and Thursday cannot put down a carpet or put up window cur- 
tains. Girls who dance all night, to please capering men, will find, 
when too late, that wise men prefer girls who cultivate their heads 
rather than their heels ; and that the time lost in learning to cut a 
" pigeon- wing " had been better improved in learning to cut a dress. 
Life is earnest ; and if a girl will be somebody, she must improve 
the time. 



OUR GIRLS 587 

Learn to despise llatteiy. If a young man calls you his angel, he 
probably means — fallen angel. 

I asked a father what he thought of the girls. 
" Of my girls ? '' he said. 
" Yes; your girls." 

"I have but one; but she's my pet: 
Mother's darling, father's pet: 
Pretty, loving, laughing, sweet — 
She's our sunshine, the one to make home happy! 
She comforts mama, when mama 's alone, 
Runs to meet papa, when papa comes home: 

Brings a chair — 

Combs his hair, 

Brings a drink of cool water, 

Then leaps to his knees and says 

'I'm papa's daughter.' 
Clean, tidy, and merry, ha, ha, 
Then her cherry lips kiss her papa. 
• How could heaven be happy, if in heavenly worlds 
There wait for our coming no sweet little girls?" 

(After forty years): 

I saw that father again when old. 

He had given his boys his silver and gold. 

Houses and lands and all were gone; 

And they left the old man to die alone. 

But a widowed daughter of humbler lot 

Took the old man home to her lowly cot. 

As she kneeled by his bed and laved his brow, 

The old man said, "I am happy, now: 

On my noble sons I spent my gold; 

But they forgot me, when feeble and old. 

On my daughter I squandered no golden grains; 

But she is the one who eases my pains." 
Then I saw that the woman now kneeling there, 
Lifting father's soul on the wings of prayer, 
Was the same who once brought papa the chair. 
On her knees! — Who once sprang to papa's knee 
With a kiss, saying, "Papa, won't you love me?" 

The one of whom he, who was dying now, said — 
" How could heaven be happy, if in heavenly worlds 
There wait for our coming no dear little girls?" 

Called on for a speech after the commencement dinner at Antioch Col- 
lege, June 15, 1885, he repeated the following quaint words: 

The Antioch presidents all have been strong, 
But none have worn better than President Long. 
The first was all covered with splendor and fame: 
The wide world of letters still bows to his name: 
Of beautiful stature, and classical mold, 
His memory yet is more precious than gold. 
But greater, or lesser, weak (call him) or strong, 
None of all have loorJced harder than President Long. 



588 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

• 

When the world was created God gave for its president 

The first man created, of Eden a resident. 

When, later, men Antioch College began, 

Art and nature combined to crown President Mann. 

But the morning soon closed in sad, incoming night. 

As when sun sets, the stars appear, glimmering or bright* 

Some were stars of great promise, and rose as they rise, 

Who, like Craig, the immortal, belong to the skies. 

But learned or dull, quick, brilliant, or strong, 

None have labored beloved, more than President Long. 

The first was a sun, and we deem it unfair, 

The stars howe'er bright with the sun to compare. 

But as stars, in the sky after sunset, go down 

In the west with the sun — they went down, one by one, 

And the temple of science, by favor or fate, 

Closed its doors; and then waited for President Wait. . 

And soon Long came along; and old Antioch halls 

Fill with beauty and youth in response to his calls. 

If capacity, industry, genius belong 

Unto greatness — then great is good President Long. 

The characteristics of his career still followed Summerbell, however, 
and he was induced, in January, 1886, to take charge of the church at 
Springfield, Ohio, which was an enterprise prematurely old, with a heavy 
debt for a very plain and barn-like building, several times too large for its- 
congregation, which was a cause of great discouragement. However, he 
did not remove from Yellow Springs, which was conveniently connected 
with Springfield by railroad. 

The following article appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of 
July 1,1886: 

THE NAME "CHRISTIANS." 

Was the name given by divine admonition or pagan prejudice ? 
Sometimes Christian ministers are blamed for holding this divine 
and honorable name more sacred than the hundreds of sectarian 
names which disgrace the church, and are marks of discord and 
division among the followers of the Son of God. That the reader 
may decide for himself, I will give the views of a few learned minis- 
ters, and a few translations by learned ministers not on our side. 

1. ."The words 'were called' (Christians) are from the Greek 
verb chrematizo or chrematisai, which signifies, in the New Testa- 
ment, 'to appoint, to warn, or nominate by divine direction.'" — 
Dr. Adam Clarke (Methodist), on Acts 11: 26. 

2. "Chrematizo. It cannot be denied . . . that the most usual 
signification in the New Testament is that of divine admonition or 
communication." — Rev. Albert Barnes (Presbyterian), on Acts 
11:26. 



THE NAME "CHRISTIANS" 589 

3. " Chrematizo means 'to give by oracular responses, or to make 
communications to men in any supernatural way. ' " — President Moses 
Stuart, late president of Andover, and regarded as the apostle of 
American theological learning (Congregationalist), on Heb. 8:5. 

4. " Admonished of God. 11 — John Wesley, on Heb. 8: 5. 

5. " Chrematisai sometimes signifies 'an oracle, a revelation, or 
a divine direction'; sometimes 'a direction from an angel. 1 In the 
active voice, it signifies 'to deliver a divine oracle'" (and cites in 
proof Heb. 8:5; lit 7; 12: 25; and Acts 10: 22).— MacKnight 
(Presbyterian), on Heb. 8:5. 

6. "Divinely warned. " — Emphatic Diaglott, on Heb. 8 : 5. 

7. ' ' The name ' Christians ' is a combination of two widespread 
languages, — Greek and Latin, — reminding us that Christianity de- 
sires not concealment, but publicity, and prophesying that in all 
tongues the name of Christ shall be called." — Schaff and Her zog's 
great and latest cyclopedia (Presbyterian). After arguing against 
the divine origin of the name, they thus confess the truth. Article 
"Christians." 

8. "Josephus and Diodorus Siculus use this word in the active 
voice to denote the delivering an oracle." — MacKnight, on Heb. 8 : 5. 

9. "Matt. 2 : 12, it is translated ' answer in sleep,' and Matt. 2 : 22, 
' warned in sleep.' " — Catholic Bible. 

Were not these by divine power ? Who denies it ? In Luke 2:26, 
it is translated "answer" (by the Holy Ghost); Acts 10: 22, it is 
rendered "answer" (of an holy angel). — Catholic Bible. In all 
these places it signifies by divine authority. Thus we have protest- 
ant and Catholic testimony in harmony with common sense, asserting 
the same thing. That objections may be brought and explanations 
required may be true ; so it is with Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Pres- 
byterian, Disciple, Friends. 

There are from two to twenty, rather from four to forty, sects of 
each division. It is to be remembered that "Christian'' is the only 
name which, in one word, plainly designates the followers of Christ 
and no one else. God has said that his people should "be called by a 
new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name." (Isa, 62 : 2.) 
And Christ said of him who is faithful, ' ' And I will write upon him 
my new name." (Rev. 3 : 12.) To write is to emphasize, to record, 
to make lasting. What new name of Christ can this be that has 
been recorded by Christ as the name of his servants but the name 
"Christian"? Who can tell? Agrippa's own answer was, "With 
but little persuasion, thou wouldest fain make me a Christian." The 
translators' word "fain" is proof of presumption in them, and should 
be left out. It is mere presumption without proof that the name 
4 ' Christian " was given first by enemies, and 1 exhort my brethren 
to hearken to Jesus where he commends the church that had kept 
his word, and had not denied his name. ( Rev. 3:8.) 



590 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

The connection in which the word is introduced, even in the midst 
of the teaching of inspired apostles and prophets is too significant 
of the divine origin of the name to need other proof. Notice : " For 
he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith : and 
much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to 
Tarsus, for to seek Saul : and when he had found him, he brought 
him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they 
assembled themselves with the church, and taught muclj people. 
And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. And in 
these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there 
stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that 
there should be great dearth throughout all the world : which came 
to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every 
man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the 
brethren which dwelt in Judea : which also they did, and sent it to 
the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. 1 ' (Acts 11: 24-30.) 

How odd it would be to interject the words of pagans, nicknaming 
the followers of Christ, in the midst of the teaching of these apostles 
and prophets, and have no hint that such pagan words naming the 
disciples of Jesus were words of enemies ! 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

The following article appeared in the Yellow Springs Review of July 1, 
1887: 

TEMPERANCE. 

Laws of Disability. This new theory by Dr. Summerbell has caused 
so much comment in the papers, and withal has been received with 
so much favor, that we are persuaded to reproduce the original report 
from the columns of the Springfield Republic of June 6, 1887. 

LIQUOR LEGISLATION. 

Rev. Dr. N". Summerbell Advances Some Decidedly Original 
Ideas — Laws of Disability and Self-Enforcement. 

In a recent letter on temperance, the Rev. Dr. Summerbell, pastor 
of the High Street Christian church, advanced some decidedly — even 
startling — original ideas on the subject of liquor legislation. While 
Dr. Summerbell is a prohibitionist, he is not a third party prohibi- 
tionist, and he believes the Republican party can and will do more to 
advance the cause of temperance than any other political organization. 
The doctor opened his discussion with a parable. A young man of 
good family had been guilty of many wicked and foolish acts, which 
had brought sorrow to his friends. He became discontented and mad 
and declared his intention of leaving his happy home, and demanded 
a division of his father's estate. The estate was divided and the 
deluded son went his way, against the wishes of his father and tears 
of his mother. By and by he has thrown away all his money in 
racing, gambling, and drunkenness, and is overcome with illness and 
prostration. Money, character, health, and friends are gone. He is 



TEMPERANCE 591 

turned out into the cold, feelingless world. He becomes an object of 
derision. Men laugh at him — children yell mockingly after him. He 
is crazed — insane — an idiot — and made so by strong drink. To this 
pitiable condition he has been brought by his fellow- man and he is a 
striking example of the truth of that couplet : 

' ' Man's inhumanity to man, 
Makes countless millions mourn. 1 ' 

Men have by other men been deprived of their liberty and lives, 
hunted with wild beasts and tortured for the amusement of the mul- 
titude, but all these forms of barbarity pale into insignificance when 
compared with the atrocity of burning a man's brain with strong 
drink until his reason is dethroned and he becomes a helpless imbecile. 

Every liquor saloon is a place where the burning out of men's brains 
is systematically practiced and the owners of those places compound 
poisonous drugs and juices, fascinating to taste, to destroy their fel- 
low-men for worldly gain. 

If the temperance man intercedes to prevent this wholesale destruc- 
tion of his fellow-man, he is riddled with bullets. Irons, of Iowa; 
Northup, of Ohio ; Haddock, of Iowa, and Campbell, of Mississippi, 
have fallen martyrs to the rum fiend. 

It is a startling fact that these gilded palaces of sir, the liquor sa- 
loons, which are merely tolerated, rule our land and ruin our people. 

Without interfering with other remedies for this great evil, I desire 
to propose a class of laws which may be known as laws of disability, 
or laws which will be self-enforcing. 

Intoxication, in a general sense, is the effect produced by the poison 
of alcohol. The use of alcohol destroys the normal condition of man 
and used habitually produces imbecility, insanity, and idiocy. 

The laws of God forbid a man to drink wine when he ministers in 
the temple, lest he put forth evil for good, and add : ' ' It is not for 
kings to drink wine ; nor for princes strong drink : lest they drink, 
and forget the law, and pervert the judgment." 

Common observation teaches us that the victim of drunkenness is 
not in his right mind. The drunkard himself pleads : "I was drunk 
and knew not what I was doing." 

Thus the Bible, common observation, and the drunkard's plea all 
teach that the inebriate is an imbecile. The conclusion is, therefore, 
inevitable that intoxication is idiocy or insanity. An inebriate may 
be defined as one who drinks habitually and is drunk occasionally. 
Him we regard as insane. All insane persons have lucid moments, 
but none are to be trusted. The inebriate should be put under the 
same legal restrictions of his "personal liberty," business, and pleas- 
ure, as the lunatic or idiot. He should not be allowed to transfer 
property beyond a certain amount without a guardian. 

A person applying for a license to marry should be required to fur- 
nish evidence that he is not an inebriate. 

In cases of physicians, proof of occasional intoxication should non- 
suit any attempt to collect fees for professional services. 

Railroad and steamship companies, and other large corporations in 
the public services, employing persons who use intoxicating drinks, 
should be liable to loss of insurance and heavy damages. 

All real estate, where liquor is sold or manufactured, should be liable 
by hen for damages until the youngest child, supposed to be injured 
jby sales of liquor to its father, had come of age and could sue for 
damages. 



-592 tUMMEKBELL AND WRITINGS 

Were such laws as these placed upon our statute books, they would 
enforce themselves. Laws of disability and self -enforcement would 
reach the root of the great evil more quickly and effectually than all 
other classes of laws combined. 

He served as pastor at Springfield for $8.00 a week, and set about 
raising the debt of $2,500.00. He succeeded. In his private affairs at 
Yellow Springs, he had negotiated for a field, and he had part of the 
money ready for payment, delay in furnishing deed being caused by a 
mortgage on the land. The subscription for the debt on the Springfield 
Church had been partly raised in the form of notes. When the time 
came to close the Springfield debt up, Summerbell himself accepted 
;some of the notes, and advanced the cash for the church debt, relin- 
quishing his own Yellow Springs bargain in order to do it. The gift of 
$500.00 from Hon. F. A. Palmer enabled him to make this work perfect. 
The church was thus fully secured, though the subscribers owed him ; 
then he resigned the charge of the church March 8, 1888. 

His love for his country knew no abatement, and he never lost his 
interest in the soldiers of the Union, nor in patriotic subjects. He be- 
came a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Yellow Springs, 
.and the following passages are from an address he delivered before the 
Burkholder Post there on Memorial Day : 

ADDRESS TO G. A. R. 

To the Comrades of Burkholder Post, and to the Ladies and 
Gentlemen : 

I greet you this morning, and wish you many pleasant returns of 
this day. 

Years before the war began I was accustomed to say, "Slavery 
will end in a dreadful war, but I hope it will not come in my day. " 
It came ! and I have lived to see more than a score of years, and a 
generation then unborn grow up, since its close. 

I was chaplain in the One Hundred and Fifteenth Indiana Volun- 
teers, and am now a member of "Post 115" — the same number. 
We speak to-day of one of the most stupendous, sanguinary, and 
destructive wars on record, compared with which the siege of Troy 
was a raid, the invasion of Greece by Xerxes a campaign, and the 
ordinary battles of Europe war in miniature; nor was there ever 
shown, in ancient times or modern, greater heroism in men or skill 
in commanders. In this war" 3,000,000 of men were called out on 
the Union side, and fully 1,000,000 perished South and North; fully 
300,000 perished on the Union side out of 2,692,401 enlisted. The 
national debt rose to $2,749,000,000, the expenditure amounting to 
over $3,500,000 per day. The interest alone was $130,000,000 
per year. 

To realize the evils of war aside from losses, consider how, for 
every soldier volunteering, drafted, or crippled, or slain, sorrow 
comes to many hearts of wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, 
children, or friends ; consider the anguish of parting ; the hardships 
of millions under martial law, wandering homeless, sleeping on the 
ground, fighting for days without food, shelter, or rest; thousands 
shot, — killed or wounded, — run over by artillery, trampled by cav- 



THE CIVIL WAR 593 

airy, dying exposed to sun and rain and to cruel enemies. Let us 
turn from its contemplation. 

The glory of the military hero eclipses all else, and we forget the 
slaughter of men. 

Some of the great struggles were those of Appomattox, Albemarle, 
Atlanta, Antietam, Beverly, Ball's Bluff, Blue Springs, Bull Run, 
Bellmont, Blackburn's Ford, Chattanooga, Corinth, Carrick's Ford, 
Cumberland Gap, Columbus, Columbia, Charleston, Chickahominy, 
Chancellorsville, Dalton, Dallas, Donelson, Forts Jackson, Pillow, 
Macon, Morgan, Gaines, Henry, Steadman, and French Broad River, 
Fair Oaks, Gettysburg, Gaines's Mill, Harper's Ferry, Hatteras, Is- 
land No. 10, No. 11, Iuka, Jonesboro, Jackson, Kjioxville, (ship) 
Kearsarge, Kenesaw Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Mill Spring, 
(ship) Monitor, Memphis, Malvern, Missionary Ridge, Murfreesboro, 
McAllister, Manassas, Monocacy, Nashville, New Orleans, Newbern, 
North Anna, Port Royal, Pea Ridge, Port Hudson, Petersburg, 
Perryville, Richmond, Raleigh, Resaca, Rich Mountain, Spottsyl- 
vania, Sumter, Savannah, St. Phillip, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Williams- 
burg, Wilderness, Winchester, Yorktown. 

Of the great commanders I will name a few : Anderson, Burnside, 
Buford, Birney, Blair, Bleaker, Bicklow, Biglow, Cox, Cotheron, 
Crawford, Cole, Coffin, Colburn, Cunningham, Couch, Carr, Davis, 
Dupont, Doubleday, Dupont, Dahlgreen, Foote, Foster, Fisher, 
Fremont, Franklin, Farragut, Grant, Green, Gibbon, Geary, Gregg, 
Gordon, Griffin, Halleck, Hunter, Hucker, Humphrey, Howard, 
Hancock, Hazen, Hurlbut, Harron, Heintzelman, Keyes, Knox, 
Kirkpatrick, Logan, Lyon, McClellan, McGilvy, McDowel, Meade, 
Mansfield, McPherson, Mcintosh, Noll, Nichols, Ora, Oglesby, Oster- 
haus, Porter, Phillips, Richardson, Reno, Reid, Rosecrans, Reynolds, 
Sherman, Sheridan, Sedgwick, Sickles, Scott, Smith, Sumner, Slocum, 
Tyler, Tuttle, Thomas, Tracy, Terry, Tilgman, .Wright, Warren, 
Warden, Wilcox, Winslow, Wheeler, Warrener, Wright, and I don't 
know how many thousands of others, generals, majors, colonels, cap- 
tains, lieutenants, and chaplains. 

But of the men ! the non-commissioned officers, the privates, — 
their trials are only named where thousands died; where they could 
be counted by brigades ; as slaughtered by thousands. 

Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after 
year, great masses of men, of fathers, of sons, of husbands, of brothers, 
in lines extending miles, were marched up to the cannons' mouths, 
and to forests of muskets and rifles, to conquer or be conquered, kill 
or be killed, or both. 

In honoring our dead heroes, we do no more than others. The 
South remembers gratefully those who led in her lost cause; her 
brigadier generals now influence Congress ; and Davis has the free- 
dom of speech without high license. Annually the soldiers of the 
South have their graves strewn with flowers. So let it be! They 
were heroes, and deserve honor from their friends. Nor would we 
tarnish aught of their glory. 

Of the Origin of the War. In 1860, the portion of the people in 
power boasted that should the ensuing election go against them, thev 
would not abide by the verdict of the majority, but would secede with 
then* States. There is not a particle of honesty in a man's holding 
office by a majority vote, if he is not willing to submit to the majority. 

The election came. The vote went against them ; they refused to 
abide by the results, and prepared for war, which was inaugurated in 
1861. 



594 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

From the beginning of the world men have united to slay their fel- 
low-men, under the delusive idea that from the greatest evil would 
flow the greatest good. Military heroes are forever deluding the 
people into war, as the road to peace, plenty, and freedom ; and yet, 
after six thousand years of war, tyrants reign, the people are crushed 
under the iron heel of oppression, and freedom is a fugitive from the 
larger portion of the earth. The poor, the common people, live on a 
few pence each per week, and are uneducated, despairing, and de- 
spised ; yet they glory in war. The millions who have but one meal 
per day, and that of the coarsest food, and limited in quantity, who 
are always hungry, yet glory in war. Millions who never he on a 
good bed, never sit in a good chair, never eat at a good table, never 
dress in good clothing, never aspire to education or competence, yet 
glory in war. 

They are willing to be hurled in living masses upon each other for 
slaughter, thinking to better their condition by war. Deluded people ! 
But one proverb is generally true of war : k ' l^hey that take the sword, 
shall perish with the sword." Only for self-defence, or to support 
the majesty of the law, is war right, defensible, or justifiable. 

Jesus said again, " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man 
lay down his life for his friends" (John 15 : 13). The Union soldiers 
of the late war did not, for a long time, recognize their opponents as 
enemies. They could not think them such, but brethren, erring 
friends, and went out, not to subjugate or injure, but to protect them 
and the common country ; went out to lay down their lives for their 
friends; went out to repel their fratricidal attacks upon the govern- 
ment, theirs and ours, and to oppose those who seemed crazed to de- 
stroy their own liberty and ours. 

But they met real enemies! enemies who felt that slavery was the 
essential thing, and must be respected! and that all who disputed 
man's right to enslave his fellow-man were enemies to be hated, 
slain ! 

Even the common soldier felt that if to protect slavery, the white 
man must perish, then perish he must! The northern soldier fought 
for the union : not for or against slavery ; not to free the slave, or to 
subjugate the master : but to reclaim the lost territory ; to bring back 
his lost brethren ; to restore the old flag ; to sustain the old constitu- 
tion; to strengthen the free government ; to preserve the loved free- 
dom ; to restore the union of States and people. 

This leads me to answer a long asked query : Why was it that, with 
justice on our side, the Union army suffered so many defeats ? The 
answer is this : We were almost captives when the war began ; the 
administration closing in 1860 was governed largely by enemies of 
the Union and purposely crippled the incoming administration. 

The first hostile legislation was by the disunionists ; the first coer- 
cion of States was by the disunionists ; the first army raised was by 
the disunionists ; the first ball fired, the first fort captured, the first 
ship taken, the first blood shed, was by the enemies of the Union. 

Then free speech was crushed out, public money seized, inflamma- 
tory speeches encouraged, their territory compact, a solid empire 
stretching 1,500 miles east and west, and from 500 to 800 north and 
south, with more than 2,000 miles of seacoast in a continuous fine. 

The wonder of wonders is not how they obtained some early advan- 
tages, but how they were finally subdued at all, which was as contrary 
to their own expectations as it was to the expectations of many of their 
friends, and also their enemies North — the abolitionist leaders. 

Many have wondered how it could be that our country could be so 



THE CIVIL WAR 595 

easily divided. Was it a happy country ? Was it a free country ? 
Had it a fullness ? 

All these questions admit an affirmative answer, as far as the free 
States were concerned. Land was plenty, wages were double to five 
times as much as in the Old World, labor was abundant, money was 
common, poor people became rich, we had no national debt, our com- 
merce covered the seas, and our American ships carried our own 
trade. 

Much of this was in strong contrast with the state' in which the 
war left us — with a great national debt of billions; half a million of 
our young men slain ; our commerce swept from the ocean ; American 
shipping annihilated ; labor and provisions doubled in price, without 
bringing relief ; lawlessness, crime, and recklessness largely increased. 

The single improvement was the abolition of slavery. Yet this 
was not an advantage to the North ; by no means the design of the 
war, but purely accidental or providential — a war measure, demanded 
by necessity, and designed to cripple the opposing army, as the four 
millions of slaves had become the producers of supplies for the army, 
permitting every white man of the South to fight against the Union. 

Slavery was not only not opposed, but it was at first largely 
sustained by the Union Army ; and many a Union soldier was shot 
by the enemy while, on a mistaken policy, forced to defend the alien's 
property and slaves. 

The leaders against the Union, while occupying the highest posi- 
tions in the government, depleted its treasury, destroyed its credit, 
sent abroad its navy, scattered its small army, stripped it of power, 
and, indeed, seemed for a time to have made patriotism odious and 
rebellion a duty. 

Then the leaders of the "New Departure " had mapped out, and 
had under their influence, a well -arranged empire in the very body of 
the country, with from one thousand five hundred to two thousand 
miles of frontage of continuous seacoast, with many of the finest 
harbors and rivers in the world. This ideal new empire extended 
from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, to Texas, inclusive, and 
from northern Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri to the ocean. All 
of this they called their own, while what was left was the ragged 
northern edge, extending from Maine to California, in some parts so 
narrow as to be but a hundred miles or so through from north to 
south. So contemptible did this fragmentary remnant appear, that 
it was treated with scorn, and the North told to "slough off to 
Canada." 

Still worse ! The south was so far a unit that the good people were 
silenced by the bad, and violence held undisputed sway. 

The division of feeling was not all bounded or determined by local 
lines ; there were disunionists North and Union men South. But in 
reverting to the subject, we represent the regions by the ruling senti- 
ments. There was much North, South, and much South, North ; 
but the ruling spirit South was for disunion, and in the North for 
union. 

Also, while the northern inhabitants were largely a peace-loving 
people, those of the new empire were men of war, frequently threat- 
ening war, teaching in the schools the tactics of war, and, descending 
largely from the gallant cavaliers of England, were essentially war- 
like in spirit — bold, proud, accustomed to govern, determined and 
defiant. 

The kindly disposed people of the South were coerced by the 
violent, who, while proclaiming that the General Government had 



596 SUMMERBELL ANI> WRITINGS 

no right to coerce a State to peace and union, insisted they had the 
right to coerce the State into revolution ; hence, those kindly disposed 
in the South were compelled to silence, to escape for their lives, or to 
serve in the Confederate Army. 

From the very genius of slavery the rulers of the South were 
warlike, while the North cultivated the arts of peace. Even the late 
President and his cabinet held that the General Government had no 
right to coerce a State. 

The South was determined, the North hesitating. 

All asked by the North was for the South to cease strife and relapse 
into the Union, with all the rights of the North — the North even 
granting protection to their slave institutions. 

But nothing could conciliate the slave oligarchy. It saw the op- 
portunity to establish a new slave empire out of the most happily 
located territory in the world, and was determined to do it. They 
would take the country out, and leave only the fragments. 

Long prior to the election, it was boastfully said, "If Mr. Lincoln 
is elected, the South will secede." Lincoln was elected, and soon 
after South Carolina led the van of secession, in December, 1860, 
nearly three months prior to any change in the administration. 

Washington was surrounded by country in sympathy with seces- 
sion ; and it was supposed that neither the President-elect nor L T nion 
soldiers would be permitted to enter the capital. A conspiracy was 
organized to seize the President-elect as he passed through Baltimore. 
The presidential train arrived, was boarded, and every passenger ex- 
amined: he was not there. The President had flanked his foes. 
General Scott, a veteran of many wars, was in Washington, and 
"held the fort" with a few Union guards. Great anxiety prevailed 
throughout the country ! 

The 4-th of March came ! and the incoming President appeared in 
Washington and was inaugurated President of the United States of 
America, and sworn to execute the laws, and protect the property. 

The Nation was born again ! 

South Carolina again led the van. The seige of Sumter was com- 
menced by Beauregard, a general of the new empire. The great 
fort was manned, according to the retiring government's plan, with 
only eighty men, with scanty stores. The new army bombarded it 
with more cannon than the fort had men ; and provisions being gone, 
the fort was taken after thirty-eight hours, and the war begun ! Then 
the United States Government called for seventy-five thousand men ; 
and there flocked to her standard the volunteers, the boys in blue. 

But several States, from Maryland to Missouri, answered the call 
defiantly, and some of them withdrew from the Union. 

From the first, the disunion armies, organized and drilled by mili- 
tary educated officers who had taken part with the new empire, were 
largely victorious. Then the call came for 300,000 more volunteers ; 
then for half a million! and the once happy, free, and prosperous 
country was a vast battle-field, a field to slaughter men. War raged 
over a territory 1,500 miles long and 500 wide. 

Great fields, beyond what the eye can reach, are covered with 
cavalry. The fierce horsemen swoop down on the infantry, and 
horses and men fall impaled on fixed bayonets. Now there are bayo- 
net charges, and men struggle in death. Everywhere the ground is 
covered with the slain. The flying artillery changes its range, and 
new tempests of death missiles fill the air. Thousands fall mangled. 
Now the soldiers retreat ; now rally and charge again. Officers en- 
courage the men by bold example and patriotic words : — 



THE CIVIL WAR OW i 

"This is perhaps man's last, best hope of free speech and free govern- 
ment. Before you is the enemy ; behind, your homes and loved ones. 
Charge once more! On! the foe falcers! Charge again! the enemy is 
exhausted! " 

The Union forces have learned to fight and to die. The wounded 
soldiers stagger to the front, to die fighting. The dying soldiers roll 
to their side to fire once more. Union men have learned war. The 
whole country is aroused. Every State is forwarding supplies. The 
business of the vast territory is war ! The battle is raging by sea and 
land. Armies extend from east to west. The gunboats bombard the 
forts on the rivers, and armies besiege them on land. The Confeder- 
ate ironclad, Merrimac, sinks the Cumberland, whose last shot is 
fired while the gunners are knee-deep in water : she burns the Con- 
gress, and spares the Minnesota till morning on account of darkness ; 
but in the morning is disabled and rendered useless by the Monitor. 
Grant fights his way down the Mississippi, and Farragut fights 
his way up. The rebel Alabama destroys our commerce, and the 
Kearsarge sinks the Alabama. Many battles are fought of which 
history has no record. The people fear for the republic and liberty. 
The dying are on every side. Thousands of ambulances pick up the 
wounded. Women work for the hospitals. Veterans re-enlist for 
the war. Men never knew how much they loved their country be- 
fore. The Star Spangled Banner was never so precious as now. Old 
men offer to enlist. Boys seek to volunteer. Every road leads to the 
battle-field, and every road is crowded. Fighting armies cover the 
land. Batteries thunder from every hill. Thousands of cannon, 
hour after hour, thunder forth iron showers upon masses of men. 
Yonder, 100,000 men face the belching forts, and clambering upon 
the ramparts fight, one to ten, the infantry within. They die, but 
others rush on, as hour after hour the masses pour into death like a 
river flood. 

Now the rebels in many brigades come down upon the Union lines 
with yells terrific : one-half the number fall ; and, beaten back, after 
hours of fighting, the Union lines send up cheer after cheer, mingled 
with the cannons' roar. Vast armies, day after day, melt away. 
Thousands fall, mangled and torn, but thousands more rush into the 
jaws of death, to fill their places. All fight on in the face of rattling 
rifles, deafening muskets, roaring cannon, and shrieks of the dying. 
Men rush over breastworks, and struggle hand to hand as gladiators. 
Officers fall, picked off by sharpshooters; and men die and some- 
times lie piled up as trees after a storm. 

The contest continues year after year. The struggle grows fiercer, 
the four years. But the Union forces are occupying the most of the 
ground. The enemy is pressed on every side. He feels the pressure, 
but despair adds frenzy. His supplies are stopped. Recruits cease. 
Railroads are cut off. His forces waver. Despair adds madness. 
His retreat commences by destroying his own country. Magazines 
are blown up; arsenals exploded; bridges destroved; cities fired; 
stores of provisions burned. He can do no more. Union armies con- 
front him on every side and head his way. His forces lay down their 
arms. The generals shake hands. The men are paroled ; the arms 
turned over to the government ; the men are fed. 

The four years' fratricidal war is ended, and the African, to rivet 
whose chains the war was begun, is free; the only gainer by tho 
war! 



598 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

We honor to-day the boys in blue 

Who 'listed their country to save; 

To freedom their hearts were loyal and true, 

For their country loyal and brave. 

They honored the flag their fathers knew, 
But most of them lie in the grave. 

We honor to-day the boys in blue, 

And the men in blue as well; 

And are thankful that some escaped alive, 

And live the story to tell. 
A generation then unborn 
Present you flowers this fair May morn. 

And, comrades, remember you 're not too old 
To march all day in the path of gold ; 
To fight all day, as the Scripture saith — 
That is, to fight "the good fight of faith"; 
For this is a war where all may win, 
And all be saved from a life of sin. 
Therefore, fight, and fight to win. 

We honor to-day the boys in blue, 
The veterans of that honored host 
Who heard their country's call and flew 
Each volunteer to his post. 

The boys in blue are tried and true. 

When gathered, a numerous host ! 

We honor to-day the boys in blue, 

The bravest of the brave; 

Men to their country loyal and true, 

Who fought their country to save. 
The boys in blue were tried and true, 
But most have bidden the world adieu. 

In 1861 the boys were young and gay. 

They left the school, the college, and plow 

On a beautiful morning in May; 

They waved mother a sad adieu, 

(Sad, sad, was the parting that day!) 
And away to the scene of conflict flew. 

We honor to-day the boys in blue; 

Be the comrade's life ever honest and true. . 

And listen intent for the bugle call — 

Be ready at once into line to fall; 
For none can know but our Leader alone 
At what hour the orders to march may come. 

All learn to follow the Leader's track, 
And be alert in the great "bivouac"; 
And then your name at the break of day 
Will be called for the final "reveille," 
And around the throne where the angels fall 
To worship, you will hear the "assembly call." 

Now hail to the flag— red, white, and blue; 

The flag our fathers unfurled; 

The symbol of love and union true; 

Let it float around the world. 

Adieu! adieu! to the boys in blue! 

We shall meet above all the tried and true. 



MEMORIAL DAY 599 

If the Burkholder Post has a work to do, 
We will do it as soldiers tried and true; 
For none can expect one to die a slave 
Who fought for years his country to save. 

The boys in blue are tried and true, 

But most of them lie in the grave. 

Of eminent generals, four disappear 
From the list of the living within the past year — 
Grant, Hancock, McClellan, McDowell. Their fame 
Extends unto every nation and name. 
Whatever man's honor or glory, he must 
At the tragedy's end return to the dust. 

The following article appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of 
August 11, 1887 • 

BAPTISM ACROSS THE DOOR. 

Baptism is of heaven. It came with John. It is now one 
of the most popular and beautiful rites in the church when 
performed, as 1800 years ago, in rivers, where the crystal waters 
reflect the beauties of the heavens, and the multitudes crown- 
ing the overhanging banks seem like angels approving the 
scene. John was the Prophet Elijah of the New Testament — 
the honored usher or harbinger of the coming King, and his 
proclamation commenced with, "The voice of one crying in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." "Repent : for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand." A general revival marked the 
opening of his mission, which was to the church, to God's peo- 
ple ; hearts of parents and children were changed, and a new 
life was commenced, to signify which he instituted the entirely 
new rite of an entire baptism in water, denoting entire purifi- 
cation. (John 3 : 25.) While John was baptizing, the coming 
King appeared and was introduced by John as the Lamb of 
God from heaven — the Son of God, above all — and bowing be- 
neath Jordan's wave, was baptized. Heaven blessed the scene. 
The Holy Spirit for the first time became visible and sat upon 
him, and God speaking from heaven said, " This is my beloved 
Son." As the object of John's baptizing was to make Christ 
manifest, his work was now done and he must decrease. (John 
1:3; 3:30.) 

The visible presence of the Spirit at the baptism of Jesus was 
the token of a new era, a new baptism. Both John and Jesus 



600 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

speak of distinct baptisms — water and spirit. John said "I 
indeed baptize you with water : ... he shall baptize you with 
the Holy Ghost." (Matt. 3:11.) Jesus said, "Wait for the 
promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 
For John truly baptized with water : but ye shall be baptized 
with the Holy Ghost." (Acts 1 : 4, 5.) 

John's baptism is correctly called "water baptism," and 
"John's baptism." As he says, "I indeed baptize you with 
water," John truly baptized with water ; " I [John] come baptiz- 
ing with water," John indeed baptized with water, and " in Jor- 
dan," and where "there was much water." (See Matt. 3 : 6-11 ; 
John 3 : 23 ; Acts 1 : 5, and 1 : 11, and 11 : 16 ; John 1 : 31.) 

And this water baptism is distinctly named John's baptism 
as follows, viz, "the baptism of John," "the baptism of John," 
"the baptism which John preached," "baptism of John" (Luke 
7 : 30, and 20 : 4 ; Acts 1 : 22, and 10 : 37), and "John's bap- 
tism" (Acts 19 : 3), and "his [John's] baptism" (Matt. 3 : 7), 
" and knowing only the baptism of John " ( Acts 18 : 25 ). Here 
seven times the water baptism at first is called "John's bap- 
tism"; and associated with it is "in Jordan," "in water," " river," 
"much water," etc., some seven times, and as many times it is 
called John's baptism, showing that baptism in water formed a 
more essential part of John's mission than of the Gospel mis- 
sion, principally because baptism in water cannot change the 
character. Nor is it always possible. Not only the ocean ship, 
prison wall, absence of water or administrator may prevent, 
but adverse laws, association, prejudice of education form im- 
passable walls. But Jesus can administer spirit baptism every- 
where ; so that though, by force of circumstances, in any case 
immersion be impossible, yet we have the consolation that " by 
one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be 
Jews or Gentiles" (I. Cor. 12 : 13), and that as "circumcision 
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; " and 
" he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that 
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter " (Bom. 2 : 29), 
so the absolutely essential baptism is that which the water 
signifies, the baptism in the Spirit, and therefore the true con- 



BAPTISM AND FELLOWSHIP 601 

vert must not despair, though water be unavailable, nor the 
minister cast him off because to baptize him in water be im- 
possible. 

Happily, not all Baptist churches are exclusive. John Bun- 
yan, the "Christian," of "Pilgrim's Progress," belonged to a 
church of mixed communion. So does Spurgeon. Free Baptist 
ministers have informed me of unimmersed members in their 
church. In New England, where I was ordained, I remember 
in the first Christian church I preached to (Russell's Mills,. 
Mass.) one unbaptized member of eminent piety and much be- 
loved ; he was of Quaker sentiments. And a great newspaper 
controversy was carried on nearly fifty years ago by Elders 
Hawley, Russell, and Clough on account of quite a number 
being received into the North Christian Church without im- 
mersion. To-day I suppose that there is not one of our four 
churches in New Bedford but has unimmersed members. 

Our New England churches and ministers were of Baptist 
origin, and grew into this liberal spirit by the force of Gospel 
truth. Our Western churches had a like experience, but in an 
exactly contrary direction. They were of Presbyterian origin,, 
and of course sprinklers, yet by the" force of the same Gospel 
truth have, nearly every one of them, become immersionists. 
If those of Baptist origin in New England have learned in 
many cases to tolerate the unimmersed, would it not be very 
unreasonable to ask those of sprinkling origin in the West not 
to tolerate them, especially when they know by happy experi- 
ence the power of the Bible to bring about the truth ? Let us 
continue as we have begun, and be one in demonstrating to 
the world that truth and charity are sister graces. 

Yet we doubt not that some ministers honestly suppose that 
baptism must precede communion and membership. But 
why ? Was baptism so customary in the ancient church ? 
This was no reason. Prayer-meetings and communion were 
common, but not enforced prior to church-membership. Yet 
communion, which represents the death, might be placed prior 
to baptism, which represents the burial ! Also the passover 
was eaten before the baptism of the sea. And the sacrifice 



'602 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

represented by the communion was prior to the "good con- 
science" represented by baptism. Is it answered, Baptism has 
been placed first in all ages ? Not at all. Disciple, then baptize, 
is Christ's order (Matt. 28 : 19). And never was any one 
stopped at the door for lack of baptism. In the first historic 
ages of the church the complaint is that too many Christians 
put off baptism till a late period in life — Novatus till on a sick 
bed, Constantine the Great till near death, Theodosius till 
elected emperor and going to the battle-field, Ambrose till 
-elected bishop. Certainly the churches then received members 
prior to baptism ! Later a worldly church compelled by law 
•every infant to be baptized, which placed baptism outside the 
church and prior to membership ! But there is no Scripture 
for it. And just as much reason to thrust the communion out- 
side of the church. Let us remember that even the Quaker 
has a right to his opinion as well as we, even though he be on 
the opposite extreme from the Baptist ; and that William 
Penn and Roger Williams, representing the two extreme views, 
were both Christians whom any church might thank God to 
have meet at her altars.* 

When I read of the want of confidence in some ministers 
because they do not baptize all their converts, and, worse, re- 
ceive to fellowship some not baptized, I thought of Jesus, and 
feared that — well, read Rom. 14 : 22. There are two classes 
of ministers East and West. One class will happily see scores 
converted, but baptize none till after the "monthly" church 
meeting judges who are worthy. Perhaps months intervene, 
perhaps the baptizing is put off till summer, then a small num- 
ber, say twenty per cent., of selected ones are baptized and re- 
ceived to church fellowship, and the rest of the converts, some 
of whom believe in sprinkling, and others in spirit baptism, 
are left to wander in the wilderness. Another class of minis- 
ters have also scores converted, and receive into church and 
baptize about the same ratio as the first, say twenty or sixty 
per cent.; but instead of rejecting the rest, receive them also to 

*.Iohn 3: 3-7 has no allusion to baptism, but is paraphrased by Jesus "flesh and 
spirit." That is, the natural birth of the flesh is the birth of water, and conversion 
the spirit birth. See concordance on water. 



BAPTISM AND FELLOWSHIP 603 

the church to be baptized when they are convinced of duty. 
This second class baptize as many as the first class, the only 
difference being that the first rejects the unbaptized converts, 
and the second receives and cares for them. That is all there 
is about it ! Which is most like Jesus ? 

When I read of the want of confidence of ministers of the 
first class in the second, I looked to Jesus and found him in 
the same condemnation. Jesus never rejected one convert or 
pious penitent for want of baptism. He never said to one, 
"Go and be baptized, and then I will bless you." He pardoned 
sin, blessed souls, and saved men as independent of baptism as 
though it were never named, proving very clearly that though 
he said in the commission, " He that believeth and is baptized, 
shall be saved," he never did say, "He that is not baptized 
shall be excluded." 

By the law of custom or necessity, every child is born to be 
washed ; but washing does not make it its father's child. 
What would we think of a law that denounced all unwashed 
children as aliens, to be thrown out of doors ? God's children 
are his by conversion, and as precious as ours. Who gives 
men authority to cast them off because they are not washed ? 
But you reply, Would preachers urge the duty and preach 
more on baptism, the converts would obey. Perhaps so. But 
Jesus from his cradle to his cross never preached a sermon on 
baptism, that we are aware of. He condemned lawyers and 
Pharisees for rejecting John's baptism (see Luke 7 : 29 and 
Matt. 21 : 25), and speaks twice of his own baptism of death ; 
otherwise the gospels give not one word of his on his own 
baptism. That is, Jesus in none of his sermons names, his bap- 
tism — explains its meaning or necessity. Nor does he in one 
case withhold fellowship or blessing for lack of baptism. Jesus 
was not so stringent a baptist as John. All the history of John 
can be read in fifteen minutes ; yet more about water baptism 
will be read in that fifteen minutes than you will find in all 
the sermons of Jesus. And nothing is more inconceivable than 
the idea that Jesus authorized or appointed any set of ministers 
or churches to thrust baptism out of doors and compel every 



604 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

child of God to be baptized before he could pass the church 
door to communion. Let us remember, also, that times have 
changed. The convert has not now, as of old, only inspired 
Gospel teachers ; but multitudes of learned ministers, who can- 
not agree as to what baptism is, or what for, yet nearly all 
agree in this, to make baptism, whether sprinkling, immersion, 
pouring, trine immersion, or laying on of the wet fingers — a 
drop or a bath — the true baptism to be complied with on pain 
of being kept out of the visible and (most) out of Christ's own 
church, and out of heaven. How terrible that a hell of " limbo " 
is invented for unbaptized infants ! Brethren, in this genera- 
tion of Babel confusion, let us Christians have some mercy on 
the unbaptized convert, and not drive him off unless we can 
find some example or warrant for it in the Word of God. Re- 
member that Jesus condemns no one for charity ; that bigotry, 
not charity, built the Inquisition ; that when Jesus was asked 
which is the first commandment of all, he did not say, baptism ; 
that "now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the 
greatest of these is charity," not baptism ; tha't love, not bap- 
tism, is the fulfilling of the law ; that as we judge we shall be 
judged, and if we cast out, we may — well, I would not, were 
I you, reject the unbaptized Christian unless I could produce 
some example or precept for it in the Bible. How strange it is 
that while Jesus blessed all who came to him for blessing — 
and the earliest church history records that it was a custom to 
put off baptism till near death (of course wrong) — that now, on 
the other extreme, every so-called orthodox church has bap- 
tism outside and across the door of the church, so that none 
can enter but by water ! Is it right to make blessed baptism 
such a cause of offense ? 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

It would now seem that he was entitled to rest, but he was soon called 
by the General Mission Board to make a tour of the churches in 
the South. The brethren of both sections had long regretted the sepa- 
ration of the church, and it was felt that a visit in the South by a 
representative Northern minister might serve to increase acquaintance 
and help to bring the people together. Summerbell responded to the 
call, made a tour of the South, delivering lectures, addresses, and ser- 



SOUTHERN TOUR 605 

mons — about sixty in the period of thirty-one days. The Southern 
brethren treated him with unbounded hospitality, kindness, and confi- 
dence, though he had been known as a firm Union man during the 
war, a hard hitter against the South in all the questions separating the 
country, a chaplain in the Federal Army, and an uncompromising 
abolitionist at the Cincinnati Convention. Their treatment of him 
excited his love and admiration, and undoubtedly did much to effect the 
reunion of the separated brethren. The following editorial notice, which 
appeared in the Christian Sun of April 5, 1888, may serve to illustrate 
the rapidity of movement of Dr. Summerbell for a part of the time. 
We have no other schedule at our hand : 

DR. SUMMERBELL'S APPOINTMENTS. 
Rev. N. Summerbell will preach at the following times and places : 

Berea, (Nans'd) April 8, 11:00 a.m. 

Suffolk April 8, 7:30 p.m. 

Franklin .April 9, 7:30 p.m. 

Franklinton, North Carolina April 15, 11:00 a.m. 

Youngsville, North Carolina April 15, 8:30 p.m. 

Baleigh, North Carolina April 16, 7:30 p.m. 

Morrisville, North Carolina April 17, 7:30 p.m. 

Durham, North Carolina April 18, 7:30 p.m. 

Burlington, North Carolina April 19, 7:30 p.m. 

Bethlehem, North Carolina April 21, 11:00 a.m. 

Providence, North Carolina April 22, 11:00 A.M. 

We hope our people generally who may be within reach of these points 
will avail themselves of this opportunity to hear this distinguished 
preacher. 

From this tour he came North in the latter part of May, 1888, very 
much worn and hoarse. The following letter was written to his wife 
from the house of his son, at Milford, New Jersey, where he was staying 
for the latter's arrival from the West, where he had persuaded him to 
go to consult a surgeon : 

Saturday Night, after Prayer-Meeting. 

Dear Joseph arrived about eight. I was in prayer-meeting. . . . Told 
Carl, and he and Burgstesserwent out to the depot; but two strong men 
were helping him, and brought him home. He had an abscess cut out 
at Columbus ; took chloroform ; $20 for operation ( full price, $50 ) ; is, of 
course, poorly ; has gone to bed; lay in bed in section of sleeping-car all 
day ; doctors attended him on at Columbus. I shall have to preach three 
times to-morrow, and my throat is very sore — aching sore, I mean. 

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. 

Joseph feels much encouraged ; is very strangely free from all pains. 
He lay in bed all day. I got up a little relieved, and have preached 
twice. Just returned from Holland. I hope to be able to preach to- 
night. The weather is very fine and cool. The Lord keep you. 



606 summerbell and writings 

Monday Morning. 

Clear, fine morning. Not seen Joseph yet, but hope he is better. He 
did not go out yesterday, but was in bed all day, and felt better till 
■night, then had a bad spell; still I hope slept well. He is. quite sure he 
will get better now; yet it may be a cancerous tumor — we do not know. 
I preached at eleven on" Why I am a Member of the Christian Church " ; 
at Holland at 2:30 on the "Virgins" (Matt. 25); at night here on 
"Baptism." It was very hard work, for my throat was very painful; 
but I had large congregations. The people here are very excited about 
Joseph ; but I think he will be better now. Many were in ; Caroline 
twice to inquire, and once went in to see, and stayed long. She seems 
smarter than forty-five years ago. Carl is going down stairs whistling. 
I suppose that I shall go to conference and return here. I cannot leave 
Joseph yet, but I will write often. The conference is at B. F. S.'s 
church. I have just spoken to Joseph. He says pains woke him up at 
times, and woke him up this morning. Still he looks better. I think 
too many talked to him yesterday. Good by. Love to all. Kiss Mary. 

The following followed nearly a week later : 

Milford, 28, 1888. 

Dear Euphemia: Joseph is growing better, but his head aches 
to-day. His hopes are large; he is improving. I can't tell when I will 
be home. (Here follows some direction or advice on business.) . I 
preached this morning, and expect to to-night. Joseph and Carl, Caro- 
line and Anna, were all up to B. F. S. to conference. Take good care of 
yourself. Mary Sutton sent a kiss. Elizabeth, and Lyda, and Lyda's 
two children sent kisses. 

Watson writes to go to England. I don't know yet. 

Kiss Mary. You affectionate husband, N. S. 

The allusion to Watson is to the action of the Mission Board, at Day- 
ton, Ohio, taken on May 24, as follows : 

That Rev. Dr. N. Summerbell be hereby appointed a delegate to the 
World's Foreign Mission Council, to be held in London, England, June 
11-19 ; and that he be authorized to represent us fraternally also to the 
General Baptists of England. J. P. Watson. 

Dayton, Ohio, May 24, 1888. 

P. S. — Act promptly. He should sail by June 2, 1888. 

The foregoing action of the Mission Board reached Dr. Summerbell at 
Milford, New Jersey, on his arriving there from the conference on Sat- 
urday night, May 27, probably. On Sunday night, receiving funds from 
his son sufficient to enable him- to make the trip, he determined to go, 
although he had been reluctant, on account of the necessity of starting 
without seeing his wife, from whom he had been absent so long. His 
son urged that "mother" would understand that there was no possible 
chance to see her, if he visited the congress according to the request of 
the Mission Board. 

He decided to go to London. He wrote to distinguished Americans 
with whom he was acquainted for letters of introduction, and on Mon- 
day morning he went to New York City to engage passage and make 
other arrangements. He visited the Bible House, to communicate, 
according to the arrangements, with the secretary there, who furnished 



ON WAY TO EUROPE 60 T 

requisite credentials ; secured his necessary letter of money credit ; vis- 
ited the Methodist General Conference, then in session at New York, in 
order to secure letters of introduction from one of the bishops of that 
church there (Walden), with whom he was personally acquainted;, 
crossed to Brooklyn, to visit with his sister and niece ; left for Hartford, 
Connecticut, to see and secure letters of Hon. David Clark ; returned to 
Brooklyn; passed Tuesday night with his sister; on Wednesday morn- 
ing was accompanied to the steamer by B. F. Shaffer and wife, and sailed 
by the steamer Adriatic for the Old World. He had made his arrange- 
ments to perfection, in his poor health, after his decision on Sunday. 
On Wednesday morning, at nine o'clock, he was afloat. He began the 
following letter at the house of David Clark, at Hartford, Connecticut, at 
4:15 a.m., on May 29: 

4:15 — 29th, Hartford, Connecticut — 4:55 a.m. 

Dear Euphemia: You are aware of my sudden orders to be in 
London June 9. I found it hard to comply, but will try. Twenty-eighth, 
Monday, I left Joseph doing well, and at night, 7:15, I was at David 
Clark's to supper; and this morn hope soon to be in New York again,, 
and to-morrow, 9 a.m., sail on White Star Line for England. Do not 
know where my address will be, but send word as soon as I can. Yester- 
day was a busy day : Left Joseph's, 8 ; New York, 11 ; Metropolitan 
Hall, 12:30; Bible House, 1:03; Palmer's bank 2:50; ticket office, 257 
Broadway, 3; Central Depot, 3:40; Hartford, Connecticut, 7:05; Clark's, 
7:30; lunch first after breakfast, 8 p.m. So I go! Now I am up and 
you are up, but no one here is up, 4: 50. Sorry I cannot see you. Will 
go to New York early, and finish this letter later. Joseph will write 
you all the particulars. 

Sail at nine, the 30th. 

The following letter appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 

28, 1888: 

Wednesday morning, May 30th (cloudy). At 7 A.M., accompanied by 
my niece and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Shaffer, I started for the- 
Adriatic, the AVhite Star Line steamer. We visited till 9 a.m., when 
the ship pushed out of port on the Hudson, and waving our friends fare- 
well, we speedily left behind New York and adjacent cities ; passed by 
the Bartholdi statue, and Forts Tompkins, Hamilton, Lafayette, and. 
others, and Long Island and Coney Island, and Jersey and Sandy Hook. 
The Adriatic was soon out at sea. The day was dark, cold, and cloudy, 
with drizzling rain, but the ship was large, staunch, and roomy, and all 
seemed happy, notwithstanding the constant discord of the fog-horn, 
which continued at very short intervals till Friday morning, when it 
became clear and windy, the sea rolling boisterously high, blue, white 
crested, and beautiful, reminding one of the u Sea of glass" of Bevelatiou. 

The Adriatic is not swift, but steady ; her ponderous engines jar her 
but slightly, making her a pleasant traveler. She sits on the water as a 
vast basin of iron, in and upon which a city is built. Her length is 456 
feet; and of room, inside houses, and courts she is full. Her tonnage is 
3,888. Her most rapid run, 403 miles per day. Her swiftest crossing the 
Atlantic, 7 days, 15 hours, and 36 minutes. She carries 1,000 passengers. 
Her cabin passengers are mostly persons of leisure in pursuit of pleasure, 
with the exception of the stern business pursuer, and a fair sprinkling 
of gospel ministers, a few of whom are Dr. Stewart, Dr. Taylor, Dr. 
Dowknott, Dr. Craven, and others, including a son of Cush, and* a son of 



608 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Shem (of Japan). Summerbell is a delegate or representative of the 
"Christians," a denomination embracing the largest number of the true 
followers of Jesus, but not all of the same body independent. The first 
day out I formed a very agreeable acquaintance with the McLauren 
family. We breakfast at ten, lunch at two, supper at six, and sleep well. 
My room is E, my number 24, my place at head of table 4. My efforts 
for meeting were discouraging, owing to sectism, food, and fog-horn. 

Thursday, May 31, I rose early to watch aurora and the rising sun, 
but the dense fog covered sea and sky. At ten o'clock the fog began to 
rise, and the fog-horn to cease, but only for a little. By noon all was 
dark again, with fog-horn accompaniment till past midnight; sleep well. 

The Sea. The sea is the link of earth, extending back into eternity, 
a part existing prior to the first day, the "deep" (Gen. 1 : 2), over which 
the Spirit of God moved. It is the oldest relic of time — round (to see) — 
and most resembling eternity. 

The sea is always singing, 

Earth has no voice; 
The sea is always swinging, 

Land has no choice. 
Children of the sea are silent, 

Earth's children sing; 
The ocean's children have no feeling, 

The earth's mercies bring ; 
The ocean's cold-blooded, uncomplaining; 

Earth's consolation bring; 
Earth is most like heaven. 
The ocean ! Ah! well, 
On the ocean or the land, 
Who will, may see a heavenly hand, 
Covering both land and sea, 
Reaching from eternity. 

Friday morning, June 1. Rose early. The fog was gone, and instead 
;a moderately high wind, and sails were set to hasten speed. At 4:50 we 
passed before a monster United States ship, three master, square sails, 
with all sails set. Surely she was "a thing of beauty." And now the 
sky is clear. Soon the sun rises "majestic o'er the glassy sea, reflecting 
liquid fire!" At ten o'clock the sea seems surpassingly lovely, and I 
give myself up to contemplation. 

The sea, the sea, the broad deep sea, 

Most ancient relic of the past; 
E'er mountains o^er dry land could be, 

The sea began, and still doth last. 

God formed the sea e'er earth or air, 

And nearer seems he now to me; 
And more consigned I to his care 

Than when the later land I see. 

How many sleep beneath the wave, 

The oldest cemetery known; 
Where sextons never dig the grave, 

Where weeping friends erect no stone. 



THE SEA 609 

Now sweet appears the rolling wave, 

And mother ocean plaintively 
Invites us to her ancient grave, 

By waving arms most tenderly. 

How sweet to die alone with God, 

Like Moses in the Mount to be, 
No labor cause, no nursing need, 

No grave to be prepared for me! 

And yet my heart turns back to home, 

The loved ones there I long to see; 
Not they would leave me here alone, 

Their willing hearts would die for me. 

It will probably be four weeks before I get word back in answer to my 
letter ! 

Saturday, June 2. I saw the sun rising, but now, at ten o'clock, a 
heavy fog covers the water. We are approaching the fishing banks off 
New Foundland. They extend two hundred and fifty miles, and icebergs 
are expected. High wind ; the vessel rocks ; wooden frame guards cover 
the tables, to prevent dishes sliding off. Some are sea-sick; morning 
cold. The fog-horn is earnest. I lie in my berth reading, to pass the 
time. 

Sunday, June 3. Up at day-break. The sun rose clear, and the sea is 
beautiful. Weather cooler, as we are in the path of icebergs. At 10:30 
Episcopal service, followed by a well read sermon by Rev. Dr. Wm. M. 
Taylor, Presbyterian. Text, 'Balaam, Num. 22 : 26. We have left behind 
New Foundland, and our next point is Queenstown, Ireland, 1,800 miles 
away. 

June 6. The day is fair in the main, and there is much religious 
conversation. At 8 p.m. we had a very fine concert by the Welsh Prize 
Singers. 

June 7. The wind is high, the sky is stormy, and the sea high. The 
ship, though large, is tossing about like a row-boat. We are nearing 
. Ireland. 



1:25 p.m. 



The sea has waked to wondrous life, 

And marshaling waves attest the strife; 

They run, they roar, they leap, they dash, 

Men stagger 'round, and dishes clash. 

The sea, the sea, the giant sea, 

Cries out, This world was made for me. 

The mighty waves leap high in air, 

And strike the ship both foul and fair; 

Leap at the lights and strike the deck, 

And men talk freely of a wreck. 

"It's very bad, it's very bad," 

Is the chief answer to be had. 

But God, who built the world for me, 

Can save me from the angry sea; 

Or, if the time has come to go, 

God knows; the time I do not know. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



610 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS ' 

In Herald of Gospel Liberty of June 28, 1888 : 

Lawrence's Hotel, Clayton Square, 
Liverpool, June 9, 1888. 

I arrived in Liverpool the 8th, in the evening, after a very pleas- 
ant voyage of ten days. I am to take the cars at eleven, to be in 
London at 4 p.m., and shall go direct to Exeter Hall, the place of 
meeting. 

I have no strange things to tell you. England and America have 
much in common. I take up the paper, — Evening Mcpress, — and the 
first item I read is of the storm that swept over Pennsylvania, caus- 
ing a loss of eight lives ; of a Pittsburg train overturned and a loss 
of eight lives ; next of the arrival of our ship, Adriatic, at Queens- 
town from America ; then of the wonderful words of Mr. Gladstone ; 
then of robberies, murders, criminals, and arrests. All quite 
American. 

The entrance to Liverpool harbor is over an ugly sand-bar, and we 
were all sent on by a tender boat ; but the provision against dangers 
by magnificent buoys on either side of the channel, and by numerous 
lights, is with wonderful care. Then, as we approach the city, the 
immense docks, extending along the river Mersey for six miles, with 
their ponderous granite walls and great towers, and ships, and large 
but old buildings, speak at once of age and business, reminding us of 
Rev. 18. 

On arriving, after a scrutinizing examination of baggage by cus- 
tom-house officials, inquiring especially for tobacco, of which I 
politely informed them that I could not .accommodate them with a 
"chew," we were politely escorted to the excellent Lawrence Hotel 
(temperance), on Clayton Square, where we found every accommo- 
dation. After a hasty call and registering, I proceeded to take 
advantage of the street-cars at 2d. per ride, and from 7:30 to 10 
take a view of the city. Bought the evening paper of a little bare- 
headed girl, perhaps nine years of age, for a half, or ha'penny. I 
handed her a penny (equal to our two cents), and she handed a half- 
penny back in change, then sprang from the cars with the agility of 
a squirrel. Next a noble-looking man, large and respectable looking, 
begged us to give a penny for a pair of shoe-strings. The people who 
entered and left the cars were social, respectable, and intelligent, for 
whom we would easily form affection and respect. 

On arriving at the hotel at 6 : 30, I found quite a number of Amer- 
ican guests — ministers also, we presume, bound to the same great 
missionary meeting in London. My prayer is that good may be the 
result of this great gathering of the good of various nations. 

Our conversation at table gives a miniature view of our meeting : 

Stranger — Of what denomination are you ? 

Summerbell — Christian ? 

Stranger — But that includes all denominations. 

Summerbell — All the good. It is the largest denomination. 

Stranger — How so ? 

Summerbell — It includes all the true Christians of all denomi- 
nations. 

Stranger — Do you have a creed ? 

Summerbell — Yes; the creed and the Leader of the Jerusalem 
church of the first centuries. 

Stranger — "What creed is that ? 



MISSIONARY CONGRESS 611 

Summerbell — The Holy Scriptures, with Jesus as our Leader, the 
great God-appointed teacher, interpreter, and Savior. 

Stranger — What do you think of other creeds ? 

Summerbell — They are good as far as they agree with the Bible 
— just as other leaders are good so far as they agree with Christ. 
What denomination are you of ? 

Stranger — The . 

Summerbell — Where do you read of that denomination in the 
Bible ? 

Stranger — Well, nowhere; but would you deny us Christian fel- 
lowship on that account ? 

Summerbell — Oh, no! We fellowship every true follower of 
Jesus. We would sit with the Catholic and Quaker, Baptist and 
Methodist, side by side at the same table — "in earth as it is in 
heaven." 

Stranger — Well, that is all very nice. 

What a pity that all Christians cannot meet now, in the same 
Christian name, as during the first ages of the church ! Surely there 
must have been enough for faith, and hope, and duty in the church 
as Jesus left it when he ascended from Olivet, and when he endowed 
it with his Spirit at Pentecost eighteen hundred years ago, to form a 
basis of union in all things absolutely essential to salvation. 

N. Summerbell. 

He gained strength from 'his enforced rest on the steamer, and pro- 
ceeded promptly to the congress at London, where, although his 
appointment had been so late that there was no assignment to him on 
the original program, he made several useful impromptu addresses, four 
of them being recorded in the volumes reporting the congress, though 
most of the addresses of the congress were given to the secretary in 
manuscript form, prepared long before. His first address drew out the 
first general applause given by the congress to any speaker. 

The following letter also appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of 
June 28, 1888 : 

Exeter Hall, Strand, W. C, 
London, June 11, 1888. 

I arrived at Liverpool on Friday evening, June 8; and after a 
comfortable night's rest on terra firm a, pursued my observations in 
the morning until eleven, when I started by railroad for London, 
about two hundred miles, arriving about 4 : 00 p.m. Being met by 
friends at the station, I proceeded immediately to Exeter Hall, and 
was present at the opening (at the "reception"), after which and 
some business I hired a cab ( hansom as caUed here ) for three shillings 
(seventy-two cents) to take me to my appointed lodgings, Xo. 4 
Tower Street, five miles. The cabman landed me safely at the door 
about dark, after losing his way once or twice. I found a very pleas- 
ant home. 

After another good night's rest, I went with interesting friends to, 
and spoke at, an open-air meeting ; next to a communion, taking part 
in the service ; next to a large meeting of women, called ' ' Mothers' 
Meeting," speaking; next addressing a Sunday school, and preach- 
ing at night, being meanwhile cared for as tenderly as a child. 

On Saturday I received only a temporary certificate for a seat in 
the mission meeting, but on Monday received a regular ticket of 



612 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

membership, and spent the day in the mammoth meeting hearing 
most eminent speakers in the forenoon on mission work and workers, 
and in the afternoon on the conflict with Mohammedanism. All the 
speakers were foreordained and chosen; men of great eminence, 
wonderfully learned and eloquent, all having high titles, signified by 
from two to ten capitals, and most of them active in missionary work 
from fields in India, China, Japan, and Africa. 

At night the subject was, "The Mission to the Jews." After sev- 
eral very able and eloquent speakers, the chairman said, "Rev. Dr. 
Summerbell is here from America ; I like the Americans, and call for 
an address from Dr. Summerbell. " My remarks seemed well received 
from the loud applause, and as I retired from the stand he remarked 
aloud, "Dr. Summerbell is invited to tea at the Lord Mayor's, with 
other Americans, at five o'clock Wednesday." That was June 12. 

I am well located. My home is at the Home of Industry and 
Mission Training School, by the wonderfully efficient Miss Anna 
MePherson, who has been now more than twenty years in her world- 
wide known benevolent work, of which I will furnish an article in 
the future. My address is No. 4 Tower Street, London, or at Exeter 
Hall, but will change ere you read this. Since securing my ticket 
and seat in the great convention I have received my United States 
mail, and have now letters of introduction from Rev. William Kin- 
caid, D.D. (Congregationalist), Secretary of American Committee; 
Hon. David Clark (philanthropist), Hartford, Connecticut; Rev. J. P. 
Watson, Secretary of the Mission Board, Dayton, Ohio ; Rev. Daniel 
Albright Long, D.D., LL.D., President of Antioch, and of the 
American Christian Convention; Rev. J. J. Summerbell, Secretary 
of the American Christian Convention ; Rev. J. M. Walden, Bishop 
of Methodist Episcopal Church, United States; Hon. Robert Ken- 
nedy, Member of Congress, Washington, and others, for which I am 
thankful, and which — all of which — I may possibly need. I ask 
the prayers of the Christian churches of America that, though weak 
in body, I may be strong in the Lord ; though aged, I may be young 
in spirit ; and though ignorant, wise in pointing men to Him who is 
wisdom. Nicholas Summerbell. 

We find the following speech reported in the "Report of the Mission- 
ary Conference, London, 1888," (London, James Nisbet & Co.): 

I shall not presume to speak more than a few words. God knows 
I love the children of Abraham. I have now preached for fifty years, 
and all through my ministry I have had friendship shown me by 
Jews, and I believe that some have died in the faith of the Lord Jesus 
Christ just because they were brought to think seriously about Chris- 
tianity by my loving them and their loving me. All our Scriptures 
were Jewish Scriptures ; our Lord's Prayer was said to the Jews first ; 
our dear Savior was born of the Jews, as far as the flesh is concerned ; 
our religion comes from the Jews ; the first churches were composed 
of Jews ; the first fourteen bishops of Jerusalem were all Jews. We 
trace our religion, not back to Rome, but above Rome, up to Jerusa- 
lem. The first history of the church is the Acts of the Apostles, and 
it is a history of Jewish preachers, Jewish churches, and Jewish 
councils. 



THE JEWS 613 

Oh, let us pray for the Jews ! If Jesus could weep over them, if he 
could speak so lovingly to the daughters of Jerusalem as he was going 
to his cross, why should we not work in that spirit ? The Jews have 
suffered more persecution from the Christians than the Christians 
have suffered from all the pagan nations together. The reason why 
the Christians turned so violently against the Jews after the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem was that the Jews were disgraced and destroyed, a 
great portion of them murdered, five hundred of them hanging on 
crosses at once before Jerusalem, and many thousands made galley 
slaves. It was a disgrace to be called a Jew. The Gentile Christians 
ignored them. They made a fatal mistake. God bless you ! Pray 
for the children of Abraham ! 

The following appeared in Herald of Gospel Liberty of July 5, 1888: 

Day after day the immense halls were crowded. The main hall 
held its thousands. Missionaries from all parts of the world were 
there in numbers. It was a grand sight. English clergymen prin- 
cipally occupied the front seats. The Earl of Aberdeen, young ap- 
pearing, lithe, and beautiful, entered and was loudly cheered. As he 
ascended the platform to preside, followed by the Countess, the cheer- 
ing was enthusiastic. Following the Countess was Prof. Henry 
Drummond, author of "Natural Law in the Spiritual World"; also, 
entered with the Earl, Earl Harronby and Lord Kinnaird, and other 
nobles and notables. A hymn was sung by the vast assembly gath- 
ered from the four quarters of the earth, but one in Christ ; a psalm 
was read and prayer was made; brilliant -papers were read and ora- 
tions given, and frequent applause cheered the orators. To follow 
the orators word for word would fill the Herald for months. 

I conclude in this number to give broken sentences, on times and 
numbers, largely of the changes of the one hundred years marked by 
this centennary meeting, and will call it a "Chapter of Numbers." 

' Then follows a valuable statistical essay giving interesting figures of 
the mission work, the Bible, and the progress of Christianity.) 

On June 12, 1888, he sent a postal card to his little granddaughter, 
Mary E. Heath, for years cared for in his house, containing the following 
immense amount of matter; the first paragraph, as follows, being 
written on the margin : 

Don't show this to anybody, but save it to show me if ever home. 
Tuesday, June 12th. I have been in Loudon since Saturday, the 9th. 
Remember me to Auntie Knight and all the friends. Grandpa. 

Dear Little Mary : Oh, how I wish I could have you and Grand- 
ma here with me. London is a wonderful city. The main parts of it 
are rich and beautiful. St. Paul's Church, the Bank of England, and — 
and — there is too much to enumerate. 

I have made two speeches in Exeter Hall ; last night on missions to 
the Jews, and this afternoon on missions to Japan. But my heart is far 
away, on High Street, in Ohio. 



614 SUMMERBELL, AND WRITINGS 

My darling Mary, far away, 

In Yellow Springs, beyond the sea, 

Perhaps this moment kneels to pray, 

Or sits and sings, and thinks of me. 

But land and ocean spread between. 

Oh, heaven bless her! 

By me my darling is not seen, 

But may the angels now caress her. 

Perhaps this is the hour of prayer, 

And she and Grandma, kneeling, 

Now say their evening prayer 

And think of Grandpa. 

I see in sweet imagination now, 

Across the ocean, 

My darling and her Grandma 

Kneeling in night's devotion. 

And I, too, bending low in prayer, 

Will look to Jesus, 

That God will bless my loved ones there. 

God ever sees us. 

Darling and Grandma at prayer, 

On High Street, in Ohio; 

No son or brother near, asking 

Perhaps, Oh, where, oh, 

Where is Grandpa now? 

And will he ever 

Meet his loved ones again 

This side the river? 

Bless them, dear Father, 

And cause thy face on them to shine, 

And may we on earth meet again, 

Or meet in heaven thine. 

And now I almost hear my darling 

Singing, playing, and singing, 

Or see her arms around the neck 

Of Grandma clinging. 

Oh, heaven, bless them both, 

And may we see 

Each other once again, 

And we will bless and follow thee. 



Grandpa. 



Probably one of the speeches referred to was the following, which I 
have taken from the before-mentioned official report of the conference: 

In tire very excellent speech which you have heard, the speaker has 
gone over the ground and touched upon almost every point that I de- 
sired to remark upon. I feel that I can very well get through all that 
I have to say in five minutes. In the first place I wish to encourage 
the ladies in their devotion to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
The work in dark ages became exclusively masculine. Men governed 
it entirely; and we had the dark ages of persecution, which was be- 
cause it lacked the motherly and sisterly element in it. I appeal to 
you, mothers and sisters, never let that phase of the church appear 
again ; assert yourselves for the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that 
the woman has the power on her head because of the angels, and let 
no man remove that power. Speak for the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
God will open the way for you. Oh! how ashamed I am that we 
covered up that text quoted by my most eloquent brother who has 



world's mission congress 615 

sat down — covered it up for hundreds of years — "The Lord gave the 
word, and great was the company of the women who published it." 
Why was that covered up ? And yet there may be a providence in it. 
America itself was preserved for centuries for a free church and Bible 
religion, saved and preserved until after the art of printing and Bibles 
"became known,, and people were raised up to colonize that -country. 
There is a providence of God; and remember, my friends, we can 
trust in it. God always has a reserve army that he can call upon. 
Men use the last wing of their army and the last brigade, but there is 
always another arrow in God's quiver. Let us labor for the mission- 
ary cause ; let us realize that we are not to reflect upon divine provi- 
dence. The church in its corrupt state did mischief in the world when 
it was worshiping constantly a poor mortal woman and teaching the 
people by means of images. 

Here is my heart and here is my hand to labor in the missionary 
cause, to pray for the prosperity of our missionaries. And yet I am 
ashamed of America for her exclusion of Chinamen. But it is not 
America's fault. Those laws excluding the Chinese have not been 
passed by those who are true Americans, but by politicians. When 
the Chinese are converted to God, they turn from their old mummeries 
and superstitions. They said, ' ' W T e had our holy water and vestal 
virgins long before you wanted to teach them to us"; and they turn 
to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Bible. God bless you. I am 
from America, and the English people are my brothers and sisters, 
and I love them because they love the Bible. 

On June 14, 1888, in the discussion on "The Missions of the Roman 
Catholic Church," he said ( as reported in the proceedings): 

My Lord, Christian Friends : We must excuse the Roman Cath- 
olic brethren. Many of them are perfectly honest in their views. 
"Their religion has descended from the days of Xuma. He established 
the supreme pontiff in Rome. Augustus, the Emperor, was pope 
when Christ was born, and in the fourth century, that church, with 
four hundred pagan temples, was united with the Christian Church ; 
and the Roman Catholic Church of the old Roman Empire is to-day 
endeavoring to subdue the world by its Roman religion as it formerly 
did by its armies and politicians. They do not circulate the Bible 
if they can avoid it, for there is something wanting in the Bible. It 
has no account of confession, popes, monks, nuns, holy water ; there- 
fore, the circulation of the Bible brings trouble to Roman Catholics 
because the people ask, "How is this ? Why do we not read of our 
church in this Bible ? " 

How he enjoyed himself at the Missionary Conference is easily seen 
"from the following, being part of the official report of his remarks in 
the Conference on June 18 : 

This meeting has been to me the joy of my life. I have never 
attended a convention where we have had so much of the spirit of 
Christ. I regard Christ our Lord as the first great missionary sent 
from the home society up in heaven. I regard his commission to his 



616 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

disciples to "go into all the world, and preach the gospel" as a com- 
mission to missionaries ; and I regard the missionaries whom we have 
greeted here during the meetings as the best representatives of these 
early missionaries. May God still bless them in their field of labor ! 
I went myself as a missionary to the early settlers in our own 
country. ... It now gives me joy to think of those labors, but they 
were very little — nothing. Here I am, after fifty years in the min- 
istry, instead of talking about sorrow for the lack of missionary 
spirit, I am in a great jubilee — a great jubilee meeting of mission- 
aries from various parts of the world ; so that I thank God and take 
courage. God bless you ! Let us pray and labor for the success of 
"this effort, and may there be scores and hundreds of missionaries in 
the coming decade where there were only units fifty years before. 
This is evangelical religion. ( 

These words, spoken in the conference, together with his letters to the 
Herald of Gospel Liberty and his private epistles, indicate the inner 
charity and sweetness of his spirit, when we come to consider that 
dogmas, in which he did not believe, were thrust forward in the " Official 
Hymns for the Conference," which he brought home to America. The 
very "Table of Contents," facing the first hymn, begins as follows: 

CONTENTS. 

I. God the Father and Missions Hymns 1-13 

II. God the Son and Missions.... ..Hymns 14-25 

III. God the Holy Ghost and Missions Hymns 26-31 

IV. The Holy Trinity and Missions Hymns 32-37 

It is unnecessary to quote the hymns to show the dogmatism of some 
selections, but Summerbell does not reveal by a word anywhere that he 
noticed these things. Where love abounded, his own charity equally 
abounded. And yet his own sentiments had been clearly expressed on 
such subjects in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of December 21 , 1882, as 
follows : 

MY GOD. 

My God is God! God everywhere! 

All depth, all height his presence trace ; 
Atoms and suns his presence share; 

He spans eternity and space. 

• 

My God is God! He never prays — 

Is no one's son and no one's ghost; 
Infinite, perfect are his ways — 

Worshiped by all the heavenly host. 

My God is God, and God always — 

The God of gods, of kings the King ; 
All, all the good his goodness praise ; 

All, all that praise, his praises sing. 



IN EUROPE 017 



THEIR GOD. 



Their god was born, became a god, 

Has his companions also god ; 
Was humble, and oft asked for aid — 

Was mortal, born, and often prayed. 

Their god was sent — sent as a dove: 

Sent by my God to serve his Son ; 
Sought not his own, but came to serve, 

As rushing wind or cloven tongue. 

One of their gods is my God's Son, 

And my God's Spirit also, one; 
Both pray, both worship at the throne 

Of my God, who is God alone. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 

He remained, according to intention, after the congress, and visited 
some friends in England, the daughter of Rev. J. T. Lynn, and the 
Clarks, at Paisley, Scotland. His European tour gave him more pleas- 
ure than most travelers, on account of his great and minute knowledge 
of the history of the places he visited — many points in Ireland, Scot- 
land, England, France, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 9, 
1888, with reference to some of the friends he visited : 

NOTES FROM SUMMERBELL. 

Letters from Hon. David Clark, of Hartford, Connecticut, have favored 
me greatly, opening to me invitations to visit some of the best families. 
Indeed, with one of these, Robert Clark, to whom he wrote concerning 
me favorably, I made my home most of the time when in London, and 
expect to with another, namely, Hon. James Clark, of Paisley, when I 
arrive in Scotland, after returning from the continent. These Clarks are 
princes in Europe as well as in America. 

Many friends of the late Elder J..T. Lynn, of Ohio, will be pleased to 
know that I called for a few days on his daughter and her husband, at 
St. Albans, England. He is a man of large business and wealth, and 
she, in looks and intellectual capacity, the image of her father's great 
energy and ability. Their home, at a favorable price, cost over $800,000, 
and their means for doing good are comparatively abundant. She 
supports her mother in America in independence and assists all her 
family. My stay was made brief by the shortness of the time abroad, 
but alacrity characterizes all my movements. N. S. 

The following, with other matter, appeared in the Herald of Gospel 
Liberty of July 26, 1888: 

LOITERING IN LONDON. 

After the close of the missionary meeting, I began leisurely to look 
about London. I had put up at first as a guest of the missionary 
meeting, at No. 4 Tower Street, "Home of Industry," one of the 
three great centers of Christian work under the wonderful manage- 
ment of Miss Annie McPherson, who, in the last twenty years, has 



618 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

astonished the world with the magnificent success of her large char- 
ities of saving souls and preparing scores of the young annually for 
successful labor in home and foreign fields. While there, I was 
entertained as a father in Israel, and found her views of religion in 

ferfect accord with the Word, as also with those of the Christians, 
attended five meetings my second day and first Sunday in London, 
preaching twice, communing once, and in all five taking part in 
speaking and prayer. During the week I dropped notes to General 
Baptist ministers, and also to Robert dark, of 223 Cromwell Road, 
stating to him that I had a letter of introduction from Hon. David 
Clark, of Hartford, Connecticut. 

On the following Monday, June 18, having received several letters 
of pressing invitation, and also learning that Mr. Clark had been 
seeking for me at the hall amid the one thousand five hundred dele- 
gates in the several large halls of public meetings, I ventured, ' ' bag 
and baggage," and received a hearty welcome to their magnificent 
home, Avhere I remained my second week in London, receiving very 
polite attention. 

I spent my second Sunday hearing the great Mr. Spurgeon, and 
rested the after part of the day. Mr. Spurgeon preached an excellent 
Christian sermon, though perhaps failing to present the Savior in 
views sufficiently exalted to meet the expectations of the "Chris- 
tians " of America. He commanded, for an hour, the rapt attention 
of as many thousands of hearers as could gain admission into his 
immense tabernacle church. I visited also his great Sunday school, 
and was informed by the superintendent that they confined their 
doctrinal teaching to the verbal statements of the Scriptures. 

On my third Sunday in London, I heard Canon Farrar in the 
morning, and preached in the General Baptist Church in the 
evening, taking tea at 5 p.m. with the pastor, Rev. J. Fletcher, 322 
Commercial Road, near the church. I was received with great 
cordiality, listened to with marked attention, preaching in a very 
high pulpit, suited to a house of two tiers of immense galleries, cir- 
cling all around the audience room. I received from the pastor, 
Rev. J. Fletcher, A.M., editor and preacher, letters of introduction 
to several other Baptist preachers, to whom I have written, but not 
yet seen ; for be it borne in mind that in reaching these places of which 
I have written I travel in each case several miles, changing from 
railroad to street-car and omnibus, for London is in extent like a 
country, and journeys to and from places of meeting frequently 
require hours. 

His style of writing on his travels may be seen from the following in 
a letter to the Herald of Gospel Liberty of jSTovember 22, 1888: 

PARIS. 

My preconceptions of Paris were poetical. I could fancy it as 
nothing without antithesis; superstition blossoming into infidelity, 
drudgery into display, poverty into extravagance, loyalty into com- 
munism, anarchy into despotism. History presents the Parisian as 
a great church of 1552 — kneeling August 23 at midday for the mass, 
and howling at midnight for a St. Bartholomew massacre with the 
fury of savages, saturating all the French soil with the best blood of 
the people ; the Pope erewhile singing a Te Deum, reminding us of 
Nero fiddling over flaming Rome. Little more than two centuries 
pass again when the same "saints," by natural evolution in 1792, 



PARIS 619 

worship the bones of Voltaire, and as zealously butcher each other as 
before they butchered the poor Protestants. 

But, as I approached the city, I was enchanted. The palatial 
palaces excited astonishment ; the Arch of Triumph, 160 feet high, 
140 broad, 72 deep, erected at a cost of two millions, the 2,250 
acres of parks, the mammoth forts, the charming churches, the 
magnificent boulevards, with unnumbered wonders, seem to rise by 
enchantment, or unfold like a veil of glory between its present and 
past history. 

Soon, comfortably domiciled at the good hotel St. Petersburg, on 
Rue Cumarton, I strolled out through the city. I was as much 
charmed with the politeness of the people as with the magnificence 
of the prospects. With every one with whom I conversed I became 
acquainted, and with those with whom I became acquainted it 
seemed impossible that I should meet no more. They so entered 
into friendship's feelings that after a few minutes' talk, countenances 
entirely new were impressed upon my mind never to be effaced. 

Having no friends to await me, nor company to expect me, I 
wandered at liberty leisurely over the city, resting frequently, and 
conversing freely with whoever happily understood my vernacular. 
The American is everywhere welcomed and respected. The full 
population of Paris appears after the day's labor is over, and all were 
ready patiently to point out the wonders of Paris. The stores were 
elegant, the clerks bland and obliging, and ere I was aware the hour was 
late, and I found at the Eden-like hotel sweet meditation and repose. 

The suburbs of London diminish its glory. ISTot so Paris; its 
environs are enchanting. Entering London we pass miles of old, 
low, two-story dilapidated brick houses with rough, red tile roofs and 
narrow streets. The entrance to Paris is beautiful ; the ride to the 
hotel seems worth the visit. Paris has a population of more than 
two millions. It lies in a vast plain, pear-shaped, with the stem end 
to the southwest, where the river Seine enters the city, flowing in 
the form of a bow through the center, and turning southeast, leaves 
the city about two-thirds of the way toward the east, so that most of 
Paris, like London, lies north of the river. Like the Thames, the 
Seine is spanned by superb bridges, and its waters are adorned by 
beautiful steamboats. The city is surrounded by a well-guarded 
wall, with batteries and fortifications inclosing an area of five miles 
diameter, not to keep the people in, but to keep smugglers and an 
enemy out. The beautiful boulevards were once the only way 
around the city, by walks and carriage road, beautified by spreading 
shade trees. These were finally abandoned to carriage ways and 
promenades and became the pattern for grand, broad ways through 
all the city. Imagine a broad avenue divided into five parts, each 
adequately wide. First, next to the houses, broad, beautiful walks ; 
then, between the walks and the broad, ample carriage way, long 
plateaus of grass, twelve to twenty feet wide each, extending the 
whole length of the street and studded with trees, and generally 
seated mostly with extemporized benches, and alive with people 
resting, conversing, and children playing, and you have a faint view 
of the boulevards, the pride of Paris. 

I had sweet rest in the Eden-like hotel, and in the early morn 1 
was ready for a ride. In passing out into the center of the city we 
first noticed the Grand Opera House, the largest theater in the world. 
I was told that five hundred houses were pulled down to give room 
for its erection. It was built in 1861, andcost over $2,000,000. It 
covers three acres, and its magnificence is in proportion to its size. 



620 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

We passed from the theater to the church of St. Mary Madeleine. 
This is the finest proportioned and, to me, the most beautiful church 
building I ever saw. The North Christian Church, of New Bedford, 
if it had its side as well as front colonnades, would afford a good 
miniature representation of it. Its cost was $2,600,000, and it is the 
most fashionable and frequented church in Paris. It is said that 
sixty priests minister at its altars. It is of the Grecian style of 
architecture, and adorned with the riches of art. Napoleon designed 
it as a monument of military glory. One of its finest pictures repre- 
sents Mary in heaven and multitudes bowing in adoration. It stands 
on the Rue Roy ale, and was the last refuge of the commune in 1871, 
some hundreds of whom were slaughtered within its walls. 

From the Madeleine we proceeded along the beautiful boulevard 
southwest to Place de la Concorde, the finest place in Paris. It com- 
prises a beautiful park on rising ground, in the center of which is a 
most beautiful obelisk, the twin monolith to Cleopatra's Needle. It 
weighs 240 tons, is 7 b' feet high, and stands on a block of granite of 
96 tons. Many fine statues ornament the square. Of this place: 
In 1600 it was a commons; 1718 a statue of Louis XV. was erected, 
and it was named Place Louis XV.; May 30, 1770, 1,200 people 
were crushed to death there in a panic during a display of fire-works, 
and 2,000 injured; in 1793 the guillotine stood there, and both 
Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, in whose honor the fire-works 
were displayed, were beheaded here; in 1799 it was named Place de 
la Concorde; in 1814, the allied armies encamped here; in 1815, the 
British army; in 1871, the Prussian. These great changes are 
symbolical of Parisian life. It is now a place of delight, the resort 
of the multitudes. But my notes are too minute, and I must pass 
with little comment many magnificent scenes. We soon entered the 
"Grand Lift," on the banks of the Seine, where a company of per- 
haps thirty were at once elevated 300 feet above the level of the 
river to a view extending over Paris on every side and beyond as far 
as the eye could reach. It is said three and a half million visitors 
have ascended to the top of this Tower of Trocadero. We were said 
to see "thirty-seven miles in every direction" (except perhaps above 
and below). The palace and gardens defy any brief description. 
The central building is surmounted by a dome 173 feet in diameter, 
35 feet broader than St. Peter's at Rome. The center hall seats 
more than 6,000. The wings are series of Moorish pavilions, each 
wing a quarter of a mile in length. A little beyond is now being 
erected the mammoth tower of the world as a part of the great 
coming exposition. It is built of iron, already reaching a dizzy 
height, and covering many acres. It is designed to be the greatest 
building of the world. 

The place of the Bastile, like London Tower, interests all. It was 
at first a castle, then a state prision, odious from the consideration 
that it was used at the caprice of nobles to destroy their enemies. 
To enter required no preliminary trial. But blank warrants were 
issued to favorites, who filled them out according to their will, and 
those seized and cast therein were helpless, no trial being called ex- 
cept at the request of their enemy. It was destroyed by a mob at 
the beginning of the Revolution, and its garrison spared except the 
officers. It was a battle-ground in the time of the Revolution, and 
in 1871 in self-defense by the commune. Then it was transformed 
into a place of beauty. In its center rises to the height of 154 feet 
a column of 13 feet in diameter, supported by a high white marble 
base. Upon the top of the column stands, on a globe, an Apollo 



IN EUROPE 621 

figure of immense size and beauty, carrying in one hand a Gird and 
in the other the broken chain of slavery. On the west border of the 
place may yet be traced on the ground the old foundations of the 
JBastile. 

We must next notice the tomb of Napoleon, the finest in the 
world. In the midst of the city, on the banks of the Seine, stand 
two grand buildings in one, called the Church of St. Louis and the 
Church of the Invalides. The first is adorned with war trophies and 
captured flags, and affords a place of worship for "old soldiers of 
the Soldiers' Home." The Church of the Invalides proper is a 
square building of great size, surmounted by a circular tower and 
lofty dome and twelve windows. Immediately beneath the dome a 
cellar is sunk 20 feet deep and 36 feet in diameter of circular form; 
the walls of polished granite, adorned with marble reliefs. The 
Mosaic pavement below represents an immense wreath of laurel, in 
the center of which rises a base pedestal of granite, upon which rests, 
nearly level with the floor above, the sarcophagus, or mammoth 
granite coffin, of Napoleon. The crypt is surrounded by a very 
heavy and beautiful circular balustrade, over which, as though sus- 
pended in the air in the center of the beautiful circular crypt, an 
open space of 33 feet across, the visitor beholds, near to view, but 
far beyond the reach, the great granite, heavy, entabulated tomb 
which incloses the remains of the accomplished statesman and giant 
warrior of the world. Through the stained windows flows a flood of 
light, tinged with the varied shades of the rainbow which, reflected 
from the highly polished granite, creates a floating glory about the 
tomb, appropriately reminding the beholder of the ebb and flow of 
glory which gilded the monarch's life. What a lesson! Dying a 
prisoner in the tropics, the remains of Napoleon lie entombed amid 
an ocean of earthly glory on the banks of the Seine, where he de- 
sired to be buried, honored by the people he "loved so well," and 
now loved by them as no other man in France will ever be loved. I 
cannot yet quit Paris, but I must cease this letter. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



He was unfavorably impressed with the coarseness of the treatment ac- 
corded to women without the protection of wealth or rank ; and on his 
return related some of his observations along this line, in telling them 
manifesting the modesty of a little girl. 

But with flashing eyes he would tell of the lack of common American 
courtesy extended even to the male sex, of supposed low rank or wealth. 
He was once alighting and passing away from a railway train, in Eng- 
land, when there came running after him, and shouting rudely and 
boisterously, a "guard," saying 

"You rode first class." 

"Well! of course, I did," said Summerbell. 

"But your ticket is second class." 

"Oh," said Summerbell, and asked the difference, saying he supposed 
he had bought a first class ticket. 

Instantly the guard's manner changed, he became all smiles, apologies, 
and bows, while collecting the few cents extra ; manifesting in two min- 
utes all the difference of politeness with which he would treat persons of 



622 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

wealth or poverty. Summerbell manifested scorn of the servility when 
telling the story. 
He said: 

Rome is called the Eternal City, as it, more than any other Euro- 
pean city, seems to unite the past ages with the present. "Seems," 
I say, for many cities are older, and many better represent the pro- 
gress of modern times; and yet it is old. Its foundations were laid 
nearly one thousand years before the Christian era ; but it is ante-dated 
by Jerusalem and by Damascus, its neighbors in Asia. I hastened to 
be in Rome for the full Sabbath, but did not arrive till high noon. I 
proceeded directly to St. Peter's. Service was over. I was disap- 
pointed ; disappointed in the building, as well as in missing the ser- 
vice. I however offered prayers and worshiped, not to the gods seen 
in images, but to the infinite, unseen One, who is nobody's ghost, 
and nobody's son, has no mother, and who is not a man, or a bird, 
and whom no man hath seen or can see. And, with God, I worshiped 
the Lamb, the Son, my Savior and my King. St. Peter's is the larg- 
est church in the world. 

He said : 

The following day I again returned ; and to the outside view the 
fourth time. And this was the result of my thought: It is an im- 
mense pile of stone, beautified and adorned by successive ages, and 
the genius of science and art. But Americans would contract to put 
up a larger and nobler appearing building in ten years, at a tithe of 
the cost. But our structure would lack the Michael Angelo reputa- 
tion. It is said he was employed on St. Peter's when seventy-tw r o, 
and continued his work seventeen years. 

ROME'S RUINS. 

He said : 

The most remarkable things in Rome are her ruins. Whether iir 
religion, architecture, or art, ruin holds the most prominent place. 
The architecture is too generally some new form, on an inferior scale, 
of more remarkable works, torn down or removed, for material for 
the new structure of inferior magnitude, while the old is left unutilized, 
unprotected, and unrepaired ; and used from time to time as a con- 
venient quarry for stone, or deposit of metal for an emergency, or of 
art for statuary. If Rome's rulers are not vandals, then the name has 
no significance. 

He said : 

The Roman knows everything. He can show you several heads of 
John the Baptist, the chains of St. Paul, the place at the base of 
Pompey's Pillar where Caesar fell, and the church where- Pius IX. 
fell through into the cellar, April 15, 1855. 



WHILE IN EUROPE 623 



He said: 



Modern Rome occupies the plain each side of the Tiber, and the 
slopes of the seven hills, twenty feet above the level of the sea, and 
has, besides the political king and government, 1 pope, 30 cardinals, 
35 bishops, 2,830 monks, 2,215 nuns; in all, 7,400 "religious." 

It has about five hundred Jews, who are confined to the Jewish dis- 
trict, of narrow, dirty alleys, without uniform sidewalks. Rome's 
walls are twelve miles in circuit ; they enclose an area not one-half 
built up, but much in gardens, vineyards, orchards, etc. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of December 
6, 1888 : 

PICTURE OF THE TRUE MOTHER. 

When at Rome, in the Art Museum, and while gazing at some 
grand representations of history, in magnificent colors, an old paint- 
ing came to mind, presenting a series of pictures, to present the outlines 
of which I penciled them down, mixing my colors on an improvised 
palette. 

NUMBER ONE 

Was a noble woman, of fine proportion, majestic form,' and charming 
character, ennobled with purity, charity, and good works, who seemed 
a medium of the light of heaven ; but a persecuted mother, imperiled 
by earthly revolutions, and shielding her children as she fled hotly 
pursued by fierce persecutors. 

NUMBER TWO 

Presented the same woman, partiaUy forsaken by her children, yet 
shielded by a cloud, the brightness of which illuminated her path, 
while her pursuers were lost in dense smoke, and she lost to their 
view. They supposed her to have perished, and they for a light set 
up nickering tapers, and, surrounding a statue they had just formed, 
sang in doleful mockery its praise with the chorus, u As it was in 
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be." 

NUMBER THREE. 

In the third picture their worship is perfect. They surround an 
image called the " Queen of Heaven," in vain mockery of Mary, crown 
her ' ' Mother of God, " clothe her with scarlet and jewels, and parade 
supposititious children as the daughters of the escaped woman, sing- 
ing " Gloria in Excelsis" and go forth to exterminate heretics. 

NUMBER FOUR. 

The picture of Lamentation represents friends and foes mingling 
their lamentations, remembering the good mother only as first seen in 
Palestine, clothed with heavenly beauty, her enemies supposing that 
she had since existed only in heaven ; and her children reading in old 



624 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

books the story of the beautiful mother; old men seemed gazing up 
the mountains to which first she fled, and others to the wilderness 
where she disappeared (Matt. 24, Rev. 12), and wondered if she 
would ever again appear in organic form this side of heaven. Her 
persecutors heaped jewels and threw incense on their counterfeit 
courtesan, but she did not resemble the heavenly mother. 

NUMBER FIVE. 

The fifth picture presented at the right a little company intent on 
the identification of the good mother. One traced her origin to Jeru- 
salem; another found her in sacred books (John 5: 39; 10: 35; II. 
Tim. 3: 15), and in these had found her origin (Matt. 16:18), her 
inheritance (Matt. 18: 18), her first feast (Matt. 26: 26), the first 
additions to her family (Acts 2: 47), and the Lord's description of 
her in mottoes as ' ' without spot or wrinkle, " ' ' the bride of the Lamb, " 
"that keepeth my word," "hath not denied my name," prefigured by 
Sarah as the "mother of thousands of millions" — "the mother of us 
all." And one, pointing to Rev. 17: 4, 5, said, "How different from 
the false mother! " On the left of the picture was a huge monster, 
"The Man of Sin" (II. Thess. 2 and Rev. 12), and upon the banner 
of his legions were the words, "Kill them all"; and blood, fire, 
chains, darkness, dungeons, and death were in his train. 

number six 

Is the good mother found, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, crowned 
with the stars, and on her diadem the name Christian — from Christ, 
the name of her Lord. And the people shouted, This is the church 
of which we read in our sacred books ; behold the bride, the Lamb's 
wife; she hath not denied her Lord! We should have known she 
would appear, for it is written, The gates of hell shall not prevail 
against her. She is the good mother, and does not divide the child 
(I. Kings 3: 26) : a glorious church, in linen bright and pure, as a 
bride adorned for her husband, for she is the church of the First Born, 
the Mount Zion, the Jerusalem above. 

NUMBER SEVEN . 

Was the closing scene. A banner was inscribed with the words, 
"The good mother represents the original church at Jerusalem; she 
was driven into the wilderness by her children's cultivating bigotry 
for charity, adding to God's word the opinions of men, and driving 
from God's church his children. Jesus condemned division (Matt. 
12), and prayed for union (John 17) ; Paul condemned divisions (I. 
Cor. 1:3). Every one who truly loves Jesus should embrace the 
truths he taught, and abandon the evils he condemned. If we care 
not for his words, nor his dying prayer, how can we be his disciples ? " 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



IN EUROPE 625 

Taking his journey according to his own desires, and according to his 
k OWu knowledge of the utility of points of destination, his route was per- 
haps unique ; but it removed him from the touch of ordinary tourists 
very often, on one occasion to possible disadvantage. 

Between Rome and Naples he fell suddenly severely sick ; and on re- 
covering his faculties found himself with the "sisters of charity," who 
were caring for him with the most tender nursing, of which he spoke 
with extreme gratitude, and delighted to tell us how grateful the "sis- 
ters" were for the recognition which he gave them for their care. 

His travels were treated in the Herald of Gospel Liberty, in letters by 
him concerning London, Ireland, Scotland, France, Rome, Naples, Ger- 
many, Holland, etc., for which we have not space here. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 23, 

:1888: 

RELIGION OF EUROPE. 

Religion in England is much of the style of that in America. The 
Church of England may be regarded as Protestant Catholic, retaining 
much of the pride of priestly grace by apostolical succession, regener- 
ated from Romanism, but without the Roman's proscription. The 
Roman, inheriting the constitution of Roman exclusiveness, confines 
his charity to his Catholic communion. His dearest friend, his most 
pious neighbor, his own child is lost without baptism ; and the Good 
Samaritan would be cast out of a Catholic burying ground. Even the 
innocent babe ("not having done good or evil" — Paul) cannot be 
buried with its mother Catholic if unchristened, nor even enter heaven. 
And much the same spirit is developed in the Greek Church. But the 
English Church, notwithstanding exceptions, holds more Christian 
views, and does not deny salvation to those out of its fold. But the 
"apostolical succession" is clung to with the fervor of an only hope, 
and England, Russia, and Rome profess each its peculiar national 
religion, based on the historical tradition of sacerdotal grace. But 
while the Church of England, with her queenly head, rests her left 
hand on a mythical tradition, in her right hand she holds out the 
Holy Bible, as the guide of all people, the only true religion of Christ. 
Her head is not a pope (father), but a beneficent mother; not a dicta- 
tor, but a comforter ; and the Queen to-day rules over more people 
than the Pope, without dictating their creed, or even their political 
policy. Consequently- the Mohammedans of the East, and the Cath- 
olics of the West, the Protestants of the North, and the Copts of the 
South, enjoy all the freedom of the children under the British scepter. 
She establishes toleration and blesses her enemies. The dissenters of 
England are numerous, active, and efficient. They stand in the fore- 
most ranks of devotion, learning, ability, and good works. 

The activity of religious benevolent enterprise in England is aston- 
ishing. Yet, after passing weeks in England, the Netherlands, Ger- 
many, France, and Italy, Rotterdam toKome, from Paris to Berlin, 
from Marseilles to Venice, I had to come north to Scotland to find a 
■ sabbath. The first day of the week in Scotland is a sacred day — a 
quiet day, a day of rest and devotion — and this Sunday afternoon 
(July 22) as I look out of the window at my temporary home in 
Paisley, near Glasgow, the beautiful rainbow salutes me with a hearty 

40 



626 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

amen. This is a sabbath day. I found no such sacredness of the* 
sabbath in London, or Rome, or Antwerp, or any city on the con- 
tinent. 

The Protestant religion is largely a religion of freedom ; the Cath- 
olic, obedience to Rome. In the first, enthusiasts suppose that Christ ■ 
was God, but completely failed in establishing for his church the ab- 
solutely essential form of a creed, and in the fulness of cheap charity 
every one wants to dictate a creed for his neighbor ; in the latter, to 
glorify the great corporation called the Catholic Church, and obey all 
its mandates, is considered a fullness to overflowing of Christian merit, 
independent of intelligent faith or biblical obedience. And such is 
the moral apathy of southern Europe that reform seems impossible. 
The priest holds the conscience of the people in his iron grip, and he 
is the servant of Rome, and no crevice is left by which the Bible 
teachers can effectually reach the people. They beg, but not for 
truth; they ask for bread, but not the bread of life. Their chief de- 
pendence is on prayers to the Virgin, masses for souls, penance, and 
purgatory. AV"ill they be saved ? Yes,- where they are true in spirit and 
sin not unto death. God is very pitiful and of tender mercy, and the" 
merciful and honest Catholic will, in the kingdom of heaven, have a 
place by the devout Protestant. But the bigot, the man of a perse- 
cuting spirit, the bad man, dying such, will be saved in neither re- 
ligion. The worship seems very low. God is in the finest cathedrals . 
represented in marble as an old man, the Son of God as a young man, 
and the third person as a bird — all equally God. (See Romans 1:23.) 
They never think that God is a spirit, invisible, whom no man hath 
seen or can see ; that he is above all, has no father, is no one's son, no 
one's ghost, never prays, never obeys, is undivided, always one. But 
other Moseses will come, other Pauls will preach, other Luthers will, 
rise, other reformations will reform. The religion of Christ must 
conquer all this superstition. He must reign, and his glorified religion 
of love to the true God and love to our fellow-men must bless the 
world by a full development. God is not in haste. He did not hurry 
to bring Moses and the law ; he did not hurry to have the Savior born. 
Jesus did not hasten to preach when young; he told the apostles to 
wait, to tarry at Jerusalem until the power came. 

Christianity is yet in its infancy. During this last half century it 
has spread more than before since the first centuries. The leaven, 
must for a time lie hid in the three measures of meal until the whole; 
is leavened. The cities I have visited, London, Oxford, Chester, 
Liverpool, Paris, Rotterdam, Rome, Paris, Marseilles, Milan, Glas- 
gow, Naples, Venice, Berlin, Cologne, Heidelberg, Belfast, Lucerne, 
Antwerp, Lyons, and Dublin, have all received the leaven, but they 
are not all leavened. But Christ is conquering, and the time will 
come when men will call no man- father, nor make God a man ; when 
they will call no man master, nor endeavor to make Christ "very 
man," but when every man shall know the Lord, and confess the one 
Father, which is in heaven, and the one Master, which is Christ, and 
confess and love man as brother. 

I had great happiness in finding many able and honest men who,, 
one and another, after hearing me speak, said to me, ' ' I believe a& 
you do concerning God. I wish that more of our preachers would 
preach that way. The people would then see the folly of worshiping- 
men and women and birds as gods." Alas! how little they knew the 
bonds of superstition ! But, glory to God, the leaven is working', and. 
the time is coming! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



HOMEWARD 627 

He wrote the following, also, while on the steamer: 

Let me see! I am now, August 7, ori the "City of New York." 
. . . lam 72 since March 8, 1888. I then resigned charge of the 
Springfield church to rest. The last Monday in March I left home, 
carpet-bag in hand, to visit the South, lecture to the schools and 
colleges, and preach to the churches for four weeks. . . . Thanks be 
to God for all his goodness ! 

On his return to the New World, he could not be prevailed on to tarry 
with his son iu New Jersey, but hastened to Yellow Springs, to be with 
his devoted wife, who had not ceased to grieve at his long absence, send- 
ing her the following telegram : 

Milford, N. J., September 24, 1888. 
Mrs. Summerbell: Hope to reach home Tuesday morning. Joseph 
and Carl well. N. Summerbell. 

He wrote the following letter to his wife, while on the steamer on his 
way to America; it is difficult to decipher, being all written on one page 
of note-paper, and that fact may account for a mistake or two: 

New steamer, "The City of New York." Built in Glasgow, Scot- 
land, at a cost of 350,000 pounds, equal to $1,650,000; of 10,500 
tonnage; 560 feet long, by 60 wide, with two most powerful engines, 
making nearly railroad time. 

Sailed from Liverpool 4 p.m., August 1, on her maiden trip ; started 
much later ... at Queenstown ; stopped all August 2 for work on 
machinery, next day, part of the day, 22 hours in all; but Sunday 
p.m. passed the Ohio, which left Liverpool before we did, and is now 
progressing finely. ... I am hoping to be in New York Thursday 
night or Wednesday morning, or Friday ; and if I get through custom 
house safely, perhaps preach for Joseph next Sunday, 12th. My 
health is better than when I left home for four weeks, and I have 
been gone four months. I have seen, since starting, the Women's 
World Convention in Washington, Mt. Yernon and Washington's 
house, and attended Chief Justice Waite's funeral in the Senate; 
called on Governor Lee, in Richmond, Ya. ; visited Fortress Monroe, 
Norfolk, Berkley, Suffolk, Windsor, Franklinton, Graham, and 
Raleigh ;. preaching also at other points ; speaking and lecturing to 
colleges, etc., Suffolk Christian Institute, Franklinton (N. C.) Freed- 
men's Theological School many times, to Graham College twice, to 
Stanfordville Biblical School once ( near Poughkeepsie) ; visited and 
preached for my son seven times, Milford, N. J. ; visited conference 
near Moscow, Pa. ; visited David Clark, Hartford, Conn. ; sailed to 
Europe May 30, 9 a.m.; reached Liverpool, England, June 8; Lon- 
don, June 9; attended and took part in five meetings the first Sim- 
day tihere; heard Spurgeon, the second; Canon Farrar, the third, 
and preached at 6 : 30 p.m. ; heard Rev. Gifford the fourth Sunday, 
and preached at 6:30 p.m.; attended St. Peter's Chmch in Rome 
the fourth Sunday ; the cathedral at Antwerp the next Sunday ; did 
not attend church the next Sunday ( for cause ) ; preached in the 
Presbyterian church, Paisley, the next Sunday; started for Liver- 
pool Monday night ; sailed Wednesday, August 1 ; conducted the 
Episcopal service, and preached on this steamer yesterday . . . the 



628 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

next Sunday . . . and hope to preach in Milford, N. J., the next 
Sunday, 12, and be home in Ohio the 15th or 16th. Sick at Gra- 
ham ; sick at Moscow. Started from Ohio last week of March, . . . 
from North Carolina last week April, . . . and from America last 
week in May, . . . for continent probably last week in July, . . . 
from Europe to America last week in August ; . . . preached last 
sermon in Scotland in Presbyterian church, and left for Liverpool 
Monday night. Preached last sermon in Graham, N. C, in Presby- 
terian church, and left for Liverpool Monday night ; sailed from New 
York May 30, from Scotland July 30. Thanks to God, his goodness 
and grace, and the hope of seeing my loved ones soon. 

H. SUMMERBELL. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 
30, 1888 : 

TOUR ON THE CONTINENT. 

A trip to the continent is easy or hard, according to the purse. To 
go at your leisure, make the trip an extended picnic, spend all the 
money you need to lubricate the machinery, put up at the best hotels, 
stay until you are satisfied, seeking, first and principally, pleasure, 
and second pastime, — that is all, and the trip is easy enough. But 
to go on business, with a light purse, and no guide or interpreter, 
hasten past all pleasure parties, seek no rest, indulge in no needless 
expense, tarry only for the absolutely necessary is quite a different 
thing., Mine was performed in the strict sense of duty. I passed 
pleasure parties on the way ; I left sight-seers searching for more to 
see ; I embarked while others went to bed ; I loitered in the principal 
avenues, boulevards, and buildings of the city while others were 
sleeping. Rising at five, I had four hours the start of those coming 
out at nine, and that, too, in the best of the day. I had no compan- 
ions to consult, no interpreter to wait for, no baggage to check, no 
promises to prevent my progress. When ready, I took the first train, 
night or day. When arriving, I employed the first conveyance to 
the scene to be visited. I was in St. Peter's an hour after reaching 
Rome, viewing Vesuvius a few hours after reaching Naples, floating 
in a gondola or loitering on the Bridge of Sighs in a few hours after 
reaching Venice, viewing the palaces of emperors, kings, princes, 
and Bismarcks in an hour after reaching Berlin. I rested in the 
cars on the roads, I slept when I could not see, I wrote when I could 
not rest, and rested when I could not write. 

I long since learned that where a weed can grow a plant may, and 
an idle moment is a lost opportunity for usefulness. Timers the 
limit of life, and lost time is lost life. Pastime is prodigality of life ; 
"idle words," so condemned by the Savior, are no greater evil than 
idle time. For both conscience calls us to account, and remorse 
exclaims, "What might I have done! " 

But no one can write a book or a course of articles while on the 
wing, though some may do much more than others. Years may be 



HOME 629 

spent on the way, but to write a book requires quiet. My duties, my 
purse, my promises, all prevented procrastination. But I have had 
the experience, the observations, the facts before me, that books are 
made of, and I have the sketches, accounts, and data for far more 
than I shall probably have call to write. N. Summerbell. 

North of Scotland, Lake of Argyle, July 25, 1888. 

The following appeared in the Herald of Gospel Liberty of August 

23, 1888: 

AT HOME. 

I arrived in Yellow Springs, Ohio, August 14, after an absence of 
twenty-one weeks or more, and visiting abroad England, Ireland, 
Wales, Scotland, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, and 
Germany. I had the pleasure of crossing the Atlantic on that new 
and very superior steamer, "The City of New York," of 10,500 
tonnage, in company with the prince of statesmen, alike honored at 
home and abroad, Hon. James G. Blaine, and of preaching Sunday, 
August 5, the first sermon on that elegant steamer, the largest afloat. 

"The Great Eastern" I saw on the river Clyde, in Scotland, where 
they are breaking her up. 

My parting with friends in England and Scotland was painful ; the 
more so as time forced me to decline visiting the brethren in England 
in answer to the pressing invitations. But the summer was unsuited 
to protracted meetings, would my health have admitted of it, and 
my departure from America too abrupt to permit a longer absence 
from my family. Had I no home cares, I should certainly have 
protracted my stay for a year or two. As it is, I have left many 
friends abroad whom I shall never forget. May heaven bless them 
forever. N. Summerbell. 

He was almost immediately called on to lecture on his travels, and 
visited a number of places making these addresses, and also resumed his 
pastoral work, preaching at Dublin, Ohio. His health now, however, 
was rapidly failing. While no one except his wife dreaded any imme- 
diate change, there were gathering about him affection and reverence 
which are often given in the later days of life to those who have fully 
conquered in life's battle, and who have few real enemies living. He 
had that reputation that caused men to tell each other stories of his 
oddities, of his genius, of his bravery, of his love. 

Rev. William Beller relates the following : 

Elder Summerbell believed in children's coming to the Savior while 
very young. While assisting Elder E. W. Humphreys in a protracted 
meeting a number of years before this time, at Bethany Church, Warren 
County, Ohio, there was a very interesting revival, and many converts 
were received into church-feilowship. Some were very young, and 
among the number a young son of William Beller, one of the most 
prominent brethren of the church, and also little Dora Martyn, very 
young in years, who afterwards grew up into womanhood, and died after 
a consistent Christian life. 



630 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

Brother Beller was somewhat interested in these very young children 
as to their joining the church at so early an age, from the fact that his 
own boy was one of the number ; so he said to Mr. Summerbell in the 
stand : 

"Do you not think some of these children are too young to join the 
church?" 

He looked at Brother Beller full in the face and said : 

." Get thee behind me, Satan." 

Brother Beller says that he had forgotten that " out of the mouths of 
babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." 

N. Summerbell was blessed with the largest charity and benevolence. 
A rule that he followed with regard to alms-giving was this: 

" Give to all, but donH give it all." 

Acting on this principle it was an almost unknown thing for him to 
refuse to assist those who applied to him. On account of this, he was 
often imposed on, and, without doubt, often contributed to others who, 
never in all their lives, had denied themselves as much as he did usually. 
The writer never knew him to be appealed to to contribute to any 
worthy cause without his responding. 

But the end of his life on earth was approaching. His sufferings in 
the army had left their effect in his system, and much of his time was 
spent in physical pain ; his bowels, stomach, and heart were all failing, 
and it became evident that he must soon pass away. His mental energy 
and desire to labor, however, were dominant to the last. One day when 
he was fast declining, immediately before his death, when his wife was 
temporarily absent from the room, he arose, and was partly dressed be- 
fore being discovered, having the intention to start to keep appoint- 
ments; in one case to fill an engagement to lecture, and in the other to 
go to Dublin to preach. He was easily persuaded to retire to his chair 
or bed. 

His son, though summoned when death was seen to be near, did not 
arrive in time, but heard the news by telegram sent to him on the way, 
and reaching him on the train at some point in Pennsylvania. 

The two physicians who were in attendance were deeply interested in 
him personally; and on the morning before his death one of them was 
conversing with him on religious subjects, and referred to the late ad- 
dress of the celebrated Robert Ingersoll, on the subject of prayer, giving 
the argument. Summerbell expressed himself impatiently, and some- 
what contemptuously of Ingersoll, as not giving the proper credit for his 
arguments. He charged that the idea mentioned was borrowed from the 
Roman Catholic writer . 

"See that blue book," said he, " up on that shelf ; get it; now turn to 
page — ; don't you find a place marked in the margin; now read it; you 
will find that the Roman Catholic justifies prayers to the saints and the 
Virgin Mary, because God cannot attend to all the prayers," etc. 

The following are the last letters he wrote to his son, to whom, for 
many years, he would write almost daily; these letters being written by 
his own hand, and with his usual style, in the days immediately pre- 
ceding his death, which occurred January 4, 1889* 



LAST PRIVATE LETTERS 631 

Postal card, postmarked December 31. 

Yellow Springs, Monday morning, 9 : 30. Up. Had toast and coffee. 
So you see I am improving. Mother moved a bed to the front end of my 
study, so as to be very cozy. Mrs. Henry helps mother with the work 
daily, by the half day. I do not. 

Mr. Strickland called by request of President Long and will convey 
this to post-office. So I will " cut it short." We feel very much worried 
about you. If you need, do not fail to notify. Our continued prayer is 
that you may be prospered in your work. 

Your affectionate father and mother. 

Letter, envelope postmarked January 1. 

1889. Private. 

Dear Joseph : Your letter yesterday helped me, and I am better to- 
day. Put on my pants, etc. I had not had them on, prior to to-day, 
since some day last year ; say December 26. 

Yes; of your Secretaryship, it is the great work of your life; and I am 
so glad to hear of increase in collections. 

Glad of your Christmas success. 

Be careful about Philadelphia, lest you trade hats without getting a 
hat. But if you can get into Philadelphia, do it ; I mean, without wrong- 
ing Milford. Beck will do at Milford. 

Though I desire you, I cannot see any sense in multiplying Publishing 
House meetings at Dayton, and am very much opposed to raising salaries 
of officials, till there are dividends. If officials cannot furnish fuel, let 
them ride slow. It is a shame that nearly all the employees — all attend 
sectarian meetings. 

Causes for Joy : Prospective restoration of respectable government ; 
the pope's suit was repulsed by William ; the Catholics of Boston are set 
dow r n. 

I understand the Dayton meeting is not 9th. [ Letter unsigned.] 

Postal card : 

January 2. 

I have not been out, but am up and better. The rest are well. College 
opens, I think, to-day. The day is sunny and beautiful. What was done 
with your Aunt A. M. H. certificate ? I mean the Holland agency. I 
hope the Lord may bless you in your great work. ■■ [Unsigned.] 

Letter: 

January 3. 9 : 30. 

A little better, but doctor says I must not attempt speaking next Sun- 
day. So I give that up in advance. My attack was congestion of the 
stomach, which had ( seemingly ) for ally congestion of the bronchial 
tubes. Relief found me all weakened and changed. I have not been 
out, or fully dressed, in a w 7 eek. But am gaining. 

I am glad to report mother and Mary in better health than usual. 

We hope very much to see you before this month ends. 

If you can make a firm bargain with Philadelphia, do not stand on 
high salary. Of course, living will be higher, temptation to buy greater, 
company more, aggregate double. But your chance will be better, and 
Carl's; you cannot conceive how much better. 

I mail you another Glasgow paper. 

Private. Springfield is approaching a collapse, I fear; but I have done 
all my duty. 

It is sickening to see the polywogs of Unitarians metering wherein 
Catholicism is better than Protestantism, and wishing for the day when 
worthless books may be poped to death. The editor of the Register dis- 
played his folly or sycophancy on Swinton's History, etc., and I am glad 
the women sat down on him and them. The greatest enemy of man ia 
the Romish Church. 



632 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

I fear Protestant, Presbyterian and Campbellite proselyting from or in. 
the Armenian Church will result in its going over to popery. 

Mary has said her lesson and goes to post-office. 

Ogan, our principal of public schools here, is elected principal of a 
public school, Springfield, at $1,200 per year. 

On the day before his death he used this language to his wife : 

"I have preached the gospel fifty years, and if I had my life to live 
over, I would preach and travel, to take strong ground against the 
doctrine of the trinity, for it kills God and annihilates his Son ! " 

She said : 

"Father, you feel your way is clear?" 

" Oh ! I have no clouds there." 

" Have I done for you what I could ? " 

He replied : 

II Why, you know you have. . . . You can't get my hands warm. . . .. 
Joseph can't start till seven in the morning." 

At the last moment (the next morning) his wife and Mrs. Knight 
were present, the physicians having left the house, one of them to go to 
the train to get a remedy coming from Springfield that might possibly 
be beneficial, and not yet out of sight; the other physician having left 
a short time before to visit another patient. Summerbell was sitting in 
his chair in his study, where he had passed most of the last hours. 
Mrs. Knight placed a glass of medicine and water to his lips. When he 
perceiyed the contents he would not drink it, but put up his hand, 
pushing it away. Mrs. Knight turned to set the glass on the table. He 
looked up to his wife, who was standing above and behind him, with 
her arm around him, fanning him, and calmly said : 

"I am dying." 

He then folded his hands across his breast, closed his lips and eyes,, 
and ceased to breathe. Mrs. Knight, hearing his words, turned from 
setting the glass on the table, and exclaimed, "My God! he's gone." 
She ran to the door and called the doctor, who was not yet ' out of 
hearing. He returned quickly, made examination, and said, "He's 
gone." 

His words yet speak, for he made them indeed the words of his Master, 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

His remains lie in the Spring Grove Cemetery, at Cincinnati, Ohio, 
where he had placed the bodies of some he loved. 

But such a spirit can never die. How terrible he was in his anger ! 
How gentle he was in his affection ! Error, fraud, a lie, a sham, a false- 
hood, always excited his wrath, and his tongue or pen would smite the 
untruth to death ; but he was as tender as a loving mother toward his 
dear ones, truth, faith, the Bible, Jesus, and God. Undoubtedly his 
great insight into truth came from his love of it, and that love came 
from his love for Jesus. 

The following were the last communications which he had sent to the 
press, and which appeared after his death in the Herald of Gospel Liberty 
of January 10, 1889: 



LAST NEWSPAPER WRITINGS 633 

STRAY THOUGHTS. 

Having heard of several opposed to giving to benevolent objects, ren- 
dering as a reason some scandal on the benevolent, these lines were 
suggested: 

Did you lift the last collection ? 

And if not, 
Did you catch the last infection? 

That is what ! 
Did you cover the omission 
With confession and contrition 

On the spot? 
Or to cover your delinqueuce, 
Where you did not give a sixpence, 

Did you not 
Make a railing accusation 
To create a false sensation? 

Did you not 
Smirch the fair fame of another, * 

Slandering a working brother? 

You forgot 
That for every gerrymander 
O'er the plains promoting slander 

You must stop; 
And ere heaven you may enter 
Make amends as an offender 

Every jot. 
Be with Lazarus poor when dying 
Rather than with Dives when crying 

For a drop 
On this lying tongue for cooling; 
Won't that be a costly schooling 

Where you stop? 
Turn, oh, turn, and now remember, 
Pluck away the vile offender, 

Spare it not. 
Be your way, so long perverted, 
Pocket, purpose, purse converted 

Every jot. 
Then instead of others hindering, 
You will be no longer lingering 

There to rot; 
But be onward, up, pursuing — 
Every wrong you've done undoing; 

What you 've got 
To the feet of Jesus bringing — 
Words of joy and gladness singing — 

Heavenly lot! 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



634 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

"OF TWO EVILS, CHOOSE THE LEASI7' 

"Has God ever encouraged a compromise with evil — ever said of two 
evils, choose the least?" — Herald, page 6, column 1, December 27, 1888. 

Did God ever, ever, sir, compromise evil? 
He probably did when he thwarted the devil 
And gave the first Adam a second probation, 
Whom, Satan claimed, won the first prize of creation, 
Though man became evil, Satan was cursed — 
God chose the least evil, and punished the worst. 

" For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose 
name is Holy ; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is 
of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and 
to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, 
neither will I be always wroth : for the spirit should fail before me, and 
the souls which I have made." 

A bobolink bird sang this song on a tree : 
"The bird does not live with the sense of a flea, 
Of three evils, but chooses the least of the three " ; 
And the raven croaked hoarsely, "Occasionally!" 

' Then the bobolink sang: "A man going to sea, 
"When he had but three ships sadly shattered, said he, 
* Of the evils, I '11 choose the least leaky and see ' " ; 
And the raven caw'd loudly, "Occasionally!" 

Then bobolink sang: "A wise farmer I see, 
Who is choosing a path the least rough; 'For,' said he, 
*A11 are rough, but the worst is too rugged for me'"; 
And the raven caw'd mildly, "Occasionally!" 

Then the bobolink sang: "Hoodie doodle, tee dee; 
Men may talk as they may when hard crowded they be, 
But fn life left to choose, every day birds can see — 

Every wise man choosing the least possible evil in quantity and quality, 
in religion, law, politics, air, water, weather, argument, and fraternity; 
for if a man will avoid everything which he may think tinctured with 
evil, he must no longer breathe the impure air, or drink the infected 
water, or fraternize with men, but as St. Paul says, 'For then must ye 
needs go out of the world.' " It is our duty to look at things as we find 
them, and make the best we can of them, and when needful, use them. 
Thus <did Jesus, and paid tribute to Csesar without being conscious of 
entering into a league with the evil one ; for, after all, those we despise 
;may possibly be as good as we are. 

N. SUMMERBELL. 



PREVAILING RESPECT 035 

The same issue of the Herald of Gospel Liberty contained the follow- 
ing matter from the pen of Rev. J. P. Watson, D.D., the editor: 

A PRINCE OF ISRAEL IN DEATH. 

In the death of our dear brother, Nicholas Summerbell, D.D., the 
brotherhood of the Christian Church has been profoundly shocked. It 
does not seem possible in this moment that he who stood so close for so 
many years to the heart and helm of his church, has gone out from us. 
Our lips are dumb with sorrow, our hearts are overwhelmed with grief. 
The shaft of death has fallen from a clear sky and in an unexpected 
moment. 

Death, to no minister of age, was more improbable than to Dr. Sum- 
merbell. He seemed to us the picture of health and the embodiment of 
strength. The signs of age did not yet appear in slackened pace, 
bended form, hesitation of speech, or clouded thought. His pen was 
never more vigorous, his tongue never more eloquent, and his enthusi- 
asm in work never more intense. We reasonably expected that the 
dear man, grand and noble in a hundred ways, would be a moving, 
controlling force among us for at least another decade of years. 

Scarcely a busier or a more useful year has he ever spent than was his 
last year, and we believe, from all we saw and heard in the man, that it 
was a year among the brightest and best of his life. Hardly more than 
a year ago he resigned his work at Springfield, Ohio, in the glad thought 
that the incubus of debt was almost lifted, and thus his ambition 
realized, to go forth into the Southland to carry the sunshine of heart 
and word, in the sweet fellowship of the gospel, to the brethren there of 
the Christian name, dearly and tenderly beloved. Returning to New 
Jersey, he winged his way for a brief day to New England, and then 
hastened back to New York to take the steamer for England and the 
European continent. 

He took graceful part as our delegate in the proceedings of the World's 
-Foreign Mission Congress in London, preached several times in English 
churches, and then made the tour of England, Ireland, Scotland, France, 
Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, and Italy. 

Returning home by that magnificent palace steamer, "The City of 
New York," on its first journey across the deep, he engaged immediately 
as a supply for the Milford, N. J., pulpit, in the absence of his son, J. J. 
Summerbell ; and then duty done there, he hastened to the West only 
to engage in other duties as preacher, lecturer, and writer. He had 
apparently scarcely found an hour for real rest until he entered his final 
rest. 

The glory gates most surely were wide open to him, and his welcome 
must have been overwhelmingly glorious. The angels were glad for his 
coming, but sadly bereft friends will sorrow with a heavy mourning over 
his going. We deeply sympathize with them in their great loss, and 
feel that we, too, are mourners for a fallen yet glorified brother. We 
held the man in the arms of our fellowship with a fervency of love and 
a breadth of admiration not easily measured. Farewell, dear brother! 



The Christian brethren at large were shocked to learn by the same 
Herald of the death of Rev. J. W. Osborn, Ph.D., one of the most promi- 
nent ministers of the denomination. 

The following resolutions were adopted by the church of which Dr. 
Summerbell was pastor : 



636 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

RESOLUTIONS. 

At a regular meeting of the Dublin (Ohio) Christian Church the follow- 
ing resolutions were adopted : 

Resolved, 1. That in the death of our beloved pastor, Dr. Suinrnerbell, 
we have suffered an irreparable loss, and with deep sorrow we submit to 
an All-wise Providence, yet we have the consolation that while it is our 
loss it is his eternal gain and that he has entered into the rest of the 
faithful. 

2. That we extend our Christian sympathy to his dear companion and 
family, being conscious that our poor words are inadequate to convey 
comfort to their stricken hearts. 

3. That as a token of our sympathy we send our expression of condo- 
lence to them, and that a copy of these resolutions be entered upon the 
church record. Jennie Steinbower, 

S. A. Hutchinson, 

Committee. 
Dublin, Ohio, January 15, 1889. 

There lies before us the manuscript of N. Summerbell, reading as fol- 
lows: 

I have, at the call of my brethren, held seven regularly appointed 
discussions, lasting from four days to nine days each. None of these 
discussions were of my own seeking. None of them were in the re- 
gion of country where I lived. None of my opponents knew me, or I 
them. To the first one, of nine days, I was called by the late Elder 
Oliver Barr, and served as his substitute ; and to the last I was called 
by Elder Wm. Pangburn, and served for him. During the first, 
several of my opponent's people came out and united with the Chris- 
tians. In the second, several also, including the principal man on the 
other side; and in the last, one of the sects formerly in sympathy 
with views opposed to us on the subject of the discussion, offered us 
their new church, and to employ a Christian minister if we would 
send them one. 

The foregoing words he wrote with reference to ''controversy and use- 
fulness." 

That the real nature of Dr. Summerbell was not controversial will 
appear from the following extract from a letter written by Rev. W. W. 
Staley, D.D., of Suffolk, Virginia: 

The second time I saw him was in Suffolk, Virginia, in April, 1888, 
when on his visit to the South. He preached for us here to a large con- 
gregation of people, who greatly enjoyed the sermon. That which 
impressed me most in his preaching was his simplicity and familiarity 
with the Scriptures. He made deep things plain, and all things new. 
Another thing that impressed me was his power in social circles. He 
would give you more informatiou in the parlor in five minutes than he 
would in the pulpit in twenty-five. There his historical knowledge 
presented centuries in nutshells, whole systems in sentences, great con- 
troversies in sweet statements. He preached in many churches in 
Virginia and North Carolina on that visit, and all forgot that he was a 
great polemic in his Christian sweetness. Yousj truly, 

W. W. Staeey. 



CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES 637 

After the death of Dr. Summerbell, his impressive actions were re- 
called everywhere, and the following matter was published in the 
Christian Sun, of March 14, 1889, edited by Eev. J. P. Barrett, D.D., the 
note which follows the "Card" explaining that the whole was written 
on a postal card : 
; A CARD. 

The Christians believe — 

In the Bible as making a man perfect for all good works. 

In Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. 

In the Holy Spirit of God, the Reprover and Comforter. 

In the new birth, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. 

In salvation through the blood of Jesus. 

In repentance, conversion, confession, prayer, baptism, commun- 
ion, holiness, and good works. 

In all that Jesus taught, the apostles preached, the first Christians 
believed, or is believed in heaven. 

Christians think that more of God's children in the world are of 
their faith than any other, and that it is the only faith generally 
believed, or that ever can be. 

That they are most orthodox, most evangelical and biblical, most 
catholic and liberal. 

Their name is most general, their creed (the Bible) most accept- 
able, that God is the Father of all in every age. 

They first restored the Christian name, started the first religious 
newspaper, opened the first college with equal privileges for the 
sexes, and were the first to restore open communion. 

They hold the Bible without human creeds, baptism without close- 
communion, true faith without bigotry. 

Theirs is the oldest denomination, the most scriptural name, the 
most charitable spirit, the most pure religion, the most rational con- 
version. 

Nobody can find a better name than Christian ; a better creed than 
the Bible ; a better fellowship than for all saints. 

There is not an article of their faith that requires any change of 
the Scripture statement ; nor any other denomination that can com- 
pare with them in Scripture conformity. 

Their name covers all the followers of Jesus ; their charity is over 
all whom God loves ; their church was organized at Jerusalem ; added 
to at Pentecost, and has the promise that the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it. 

Christ was their first teacher; the apostles their preachers; the 
converted Jews their first members, and all the saved are their 
brethren. They have unity with diversity, truth with toleration, 
obedience without boasting, and, while liberal, are conservative. 

Theirs is the only name which of itself signifies Christianity, the 
only church named in the Bible, the only creed that will cross Jor- 
dan, and there is no reason why all Christians should not adopt the 
same biblical and evangelical principles, except human considerations. 

It is the representative church of the Christian world ; its name 
needs no changing ; its creed needs no mending ; its fellowship needs 
no extending ; its charity needs no expanding. We ask not union, 
for we are on our part in union with all ; nor fellowship, for we are 
on our part in fellowship with all; and though we cannot go to them, 
we know they will come to us, for we hold to the only form of 
religion which will pass into heaven. N. Summerbell. 



638 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

[Note.— All of the foregoing was written on one postal card. It was sent to this 
office last October, but it was so closely written that all the printers shunned it. 
At length it was lost in the office. It has been found again, but faded and defaced, 
which added to the original difficulty of reading it. After Dr. Summerbell's death 
we, more than ever, desired to know and publish the contents of this card. By the 
help of a very strong glass we have finally made out every word, and, we think, 
correctly. When the copy was completed, in a small hand-writing, it covered over 
four pages of note paper. That will give you some idea of how much a man of 75 
years of age could put on one postal card. We feel amply paid for the work in 
copying it. It is full of thought and point— few men could have written it.— Ed. 
Sun.] 

The style and character of his diversions and amusements may be 
gathered from the following lines lying among his scraps, as if he had 
written them merely for diversion: 

A CHILD'S OPINION. 

There are pretty things 

In the bright blue sky, 
But nothing so sweet 

As the baby's eye. 

Of the pretty flowers 

That our gardens grace, 
There are none so sweet 

As the baby's face. 

Of the pretty gems 
In the ocean framed, 
I There are none so sweet 

As the baby named. 

But when trouble comes, 

And Ave comfort seek, 
I want none but mother 

To rock me to sleep. 

We also find the following lines in his scrap-basket: 

When, in highest adoration, 
Heaven adores the Great "I AM," 

One in concert, all creation 
Echoes praises to the Lamb. 

Father of all life the Author, 

Son in whom all glories shine, 
Holy Ghost; there is no other 

Name, or nature, so divine. 

God of love, Eteraal Father, 

Son of love, forever mine, 
Spirit, with the Son and Father, 

Sacred names, and all divine. 

May these names, forever dearest, 

Every true and Christian heart, 
Father, Son, and Spirit, nearest, 

Never from our thoughts depart. 



IDLE MOMENTS 63 9> 



Thee I adore, Eternal One, 

For thou art' God, and thou alone. 

To thee, the followers of thy Son 

Are taught to pray, "Thy will be done." 

In Jesus' name I seek thy face; 
In Jesus' name invoke thy grace; 
At thy right hand my Savior see; 
And now, O God, remember me. 

I claim no merit of my own, 
]STor dare approach alone thy throne; 
But plead acceptance with thy Son, 
Who said, "Ask, and it shall be done." 



Though heaven were shut, and mercy gone, 

No mortal need despair. 
Come in the name of God's dear Son — 

You shall find mercy there. 

To grace though thou a stranger be, 

Unwashed and unforgiven, 
In Jesus' name send up thy plea; 

Thou shalt find grace in heaven. 

Let law condemn, conscience accuse, 

Angels your presence shun ; 
Justice itself cannot refuse 

The prayer of God's dear Son. 

The Christians' Creed is the book once given 
To the saints on earth by the God of heaven. 
God spake by prophets, and spake by Son. 
And Jesus died for every one. 



The old, riven rock, with tongue, 
Is not so dangerous as the young. 
And stains once on the snow that 's new 
The summer's thaw may all renew. 
The whispering winds that talk, talk, talk, 
Are not the deadliest foes that walk. 
But indiscretion's wilful ways 
Hearts rend, and set the world ablaze. 
And continents of whitest snow 
Seem filthier than the rocks. All know — 
We may endure the wintry blast: 
The blizzard blow will soon be past: 
But youthful indiscretions last; 
Though passing on are never past; 



640 SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 

And not a refuge ever gained 

Can make a character once stained 

A safe supply to fill a place 

Where memory would no trouble trace, 

God has ordained some wintry laws 
Which no sun of the summer thaws. 
For sorrow is not such a thing 
As may be sought, and bought to bring, 
And chosen — fearing not its sting. 
O sorrow! sorrow! saddening years! 
God help us not to court its tears, 
But by the purest self-denial 
Be victors in each coming trial. 
For fields of snow, though empires wide 
Are often stained; and stains abide. 
And sorrow often comes to stay, 
Nor years of tears can wash away ; 
When just a moment's self-denial 
Would save from years of tears and trial. 

LITTLE BOY. 
[Written for The Ark.] 
I know it is not possible 

For such a little boy as I 
' By finding fault and sitting still 

To .grow up great. And so I '11 try 
And study hard — Be very good 

And see if such a boy as I 
Cannot some day be understood 
And be respected. I will try. 

COUPLETS OF PHILOSOPHY. 
[Written for The Ark.] 
Time is lost in moments wasted, 
Sinful fruits are best untasted. 

None are elect who do not run, 
No crown by carelessness is won. 

Would you succeed? Then up and try, 
No opportunity pass by. 

Water in clouds above us floats, 
Which next day bears our little boats. 

Not all are great that are paraded, 
Great size is only atoms added. 

Be true to God, and true to men, 
And you shall be rewarded then. 



N. B. 



REST 641 



"Don't-care" and laziness are twins, 
None wins the race, who. ne'er begins. 

The moment you so idly spend, 
Improved, to wealth and honor lend. 

Do not complain of other's state, 
While you supinely bow to fate. 

'Tis Jesus calls! Be up and doing, 
Your covenant with God renewing. 



N. S. 



Death is like an ocean washing 

Ceaselessly our shore; 
One after other washed to sea, 

We see their face no more. 

There is preparation needed, 

But few we see prepare. 
• Waves still o'erflow, and come and go — 

'T is human freight they bear. 
The dying shrink and try to fly, 

In quicksands sink their feet. 
Another wave ! They cry, O save ! 

And in the ocean sink. 
O sinner, turn, your rock is nigh, 

Why will you wait and die ? 
Another wave will be your grave; 

Oh, fly! to Jesus fly ! 

The foolish virgin's door is shut, 

The rich man's gulf unpassed ; 
Eternal hope is but a rope 

Of sand, as seen at last. 

The Christian life is a journey rare, 
With enough for use, and none to spare, 
A life of trust; and the joy of even 
Is to meet the blest in the home in heaven. 

Knowing well how likely a son would be unduly to eulogize an 
honored father in an ordinary biography, we avoid that mistake by 
presenting as a better memorial the foregoing pages of scattered useful 
words of N. Summerbell. But we wish to add this, our own tribute : 
He was the best man we ever met ; most emphatically a child of God. 



SCRIPTURE INDEX. 



The following are some of the Bible quotations found in the foregoing 
pages. Some of them are treated. 

The arrangement of books is that of the English Bible. 

Unless a text is quoted more than twice, only the chapter containing it 
is given in this index, frequently. 



Genesis. 

CHAP. TS. PAGE. 

1 515, 400, 345, ISO, 214, 377. 

1 : 1, 2. . . 68, 345, 363, 369 seq., 469. 

1: 3 371, 380, 3S1. 

2 68, 87, 316, 515, 214, 517, 38* 

2: 3 344,315,381. 

2: 5- 8.. 214, 345,360,460. 

3 346, 360, 384, 438, 460, 497, 51; 

4 346,442,463,237,319. 

4: 13 -16.. 31 9, 405, 462. 



.346. 



587. 



9: 


5.... 


.531. 




14. 




.471. 




20: 


7. ... 


.237. 




22: 


18.... 


.490. 




25: 


30.... 


.376. 




29: 


&3.... 


.442. 




30: 


6-24. 


.442. 




33: 


5.... 


.442. 




40: 


17.... 


.376. 




43: 


11.... 


.376. 




Exo 
4. 


dus. 


:234, 


438. 


6: 


3.... 


.516. 




13: 


1,2.. 


.344. 




15: 


20.... 


.423. 




16: 


22. 


.381. 




19: 


9-1G 


.346. 




20. 




.173, 


214, 332, 881, 411, 517. 


24: 


7.... 


.211. 




31: 


1-17 


.381. 




.32: 


30-32 


.237, 


319. 


33: 


20-23 


.288. 




Leviticus. 






4: 


14,28 


.259. 




5: 


7-15 


.259, 


376. 


8: 


31... 


.375. 




11: 


6.... 


.376. 




14: 


3,53 


.259. 





Leviticus.— Continued. 
chap. vs. PAGE. 

16: 6, 34.. 259. 

22: 18 259. 

25 173. 

Numbers. 

4: 7 875,376. 

11 376,363. 

13: 23 376. 

23: 19 68. 

24: 7 265,513. 

Deuteronomy. 

1: 39 442. 

4 245,288,504: 

6: 4-9.. 68,120,210,417 

10 173. 

12: 15 376. 

14 173,376. 

16 173. 

23: 24 376. 

30: 11-13.. 250. 

34: 5 542. 

Joshua. 

10: 12, 13.. 400. 
24: 19-21.. 385. 

Judges. 

4: 19 376. 

5: 25 376. 

6: 20 376. 

Ruth. 

1: 21, 22.. 129. 

/. Samuel. 

1: 20 442. 

17: 18 376. 

23: 9-1 3.. 423. 

II. Samuel. 
6: 14-22.. 343. 

17: 28 376. 

21 129, 130. 



432, 516, 517, 531. 



643 



644 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



I. Kings. 

CHAP. YS. 

3: 26 624. 

4: 23:.... 376. 

8: 46 449. 

19: 11, 12.31,6. 

JI. Kings. 

10: 8 407. 

22: 14 423. 

I. Chronicles. 
12: 40 376. 

II. Chronicles. 
31: 5 376. 

Ezra. 

7: 22 37& 

10: 11 280. 

Nehemiah. 

6: 14 423. 

8: 1 211. 

Job. 
7: 9, 10.. 343. 
14: 14, 15.. 343. 
19: 26, 27.. 343. 

22: 5 59. 

26: 7 372. 

28: 5 371. 

32: 3 347,460. 

38 461,285,872. 

42: 8 237. 

Psalm. 
8: 5 214. 

19 372, m. 

22: 16 426. 

23: 5 375. 

26: 5, 6.. 324, 325, 241; 

32: 5 280. 

51: 7 241. 

68: 11 576. 

84: 11 383. 

91: 16 552. 

97: 5 370,371. 

102: 6. ...442. 
104: 5-7. .371. 

105: 40 376. 

127: 3 442. 

139 62, 64. 

145 63,376,449* 

147: 5 60. 

149: 3 342. > 

Proverbs. 

3: 12 550-551. 

5: 15-19.. 265. 

8: 27 372. 

9: 17 265. 

10: 30 471. 

17: 6 442. 



Proverbs.— Continued. 

chap. vs. PAGE. 

22: 26 332. 

28: 9 W. 

30: 6 249. 

Ecclesiastes. 

5: 1 109. 

12: 6, 7.. 360, 376, US8. 

Song of Solomon. 
2: 5 37G. 

Isaiah. 

1: 16 119,241,459. 

2: 2-4. .490. 

8: 13, 20.. 117, 212, 344. 

0: 6 452. 

12: 6 68. 

18: 1 h62. 

38: 1 228. 

40: 22 372. 

45: 7 UB9. 

48: 1 265,513. 

53 .259,359,399,481. 

56: 11 376. 

58: 6 485. 

62: 2 589. 

63: 9, 10.. 389. 
66: 24 444,480. 

Jeremiah. 

2: 13 513. 

3: 22 449. 

4: 14 119,241. 

7: 31 69,489 

17: 11 376. 

28: 16. ....228. 

31: 15, 33.. 442, 120. 

Ezekiel. 

1 397, 37h. 

4: 9 376. 

9: 8 383. 

11: 19 460. 

18: 20,21.. 39, 69. 

Daniel. 

2: 44 506. 

7: 27 506. 

9: 8, 24.. 280, 445, 454. 
9: 27 120,258, 454. 

Joel. 
2: 28-32.. 226, 423. 

Amos. 
3: 6, 7.. 489. 
8: 1, 9.. 376, 400. 

Micah. 
6: 15 376. 

Zechariah. 
1: 12, 14.. 277, 454 
2: 8, 9..S59. 



SCRIPTURE INDEX 



645 



Zechariah — Continued. 
chap. vs. PAGE. 

4: 11-14.. 425. 

7: 1 109. 

9: 9 119. 

13: 6 399. 

14: 9 68. 

Malachi. 

8: 10 452. 

4 383, 120,281,384. 

Matthew. 
2: 12,22.. 326. 

3 357,535,132,374. 

3: 5-12. .264, 281, 451, 535, 117, 393, 474, 475, 
600, 241, 245, 260, 261, 266, 383, 
394, 533, 281. 
3: 13-15.. 118, 119, 120, 265, 416, 535. 

4 368,247,119,263. 

5 358,237. 

5: 17-48.. 39, 307, 344, 443, 453, 454, 480. 
6: 9-18.. 362, 363, 376, 485. 

7 475, 237, 262, 237, 487, 512, 471. 

9 393,263, 119. 

10 360, 496, 244, 399, 61, 486. 

10: 28 368, 438, 449, 451, 456, 461, 481, 488. 

11 263,479, 449. 

12 624, 212, 261, 451, 120. 

12: 28 119,263,454. 

13: 19-43.. 363, 481, 489, 506, 520. 
13: 55, 56.. 496, 497, 498. 

15: 9 68. 

16: 13-19.. 124, 132, 263, 291, 325, 392, 424, 426, 

J&9, 469, 479, 624. 
17: 3. ....346. 
17: 12, 13.. 384. 

18 307, 624. 

18: 1-14.. 118, 393, 442, 480. 

18: 17 264,307,426. 

19 212,386,120,442,517. 

21 212, 535, 603, 247, 425. 

21: 32 117, 119,247. 

22 376,487. 

22: 23-32.. 212, 502, 503, 504. 

23 68,119,118,393. 

.23: 15-33.. 119, 331, 392, 481. 

24 m, 624, 239, 244, 263, 211, U72, 129, 

393, 451. 

25 237, 487, 459, 461, 454, 383. 

25: 46 349, 444, 415, 451. 

26 282, 263, 283, 624, 413. 

27 241,399, 69, 68. 

28: 18-20.. 69, 117, 120, 239, 242, 260,264, 436, 

602. 
Mark. 

1 263,535,259,266. 

1: 4 242,413,535. 

1: 14, 15.. 117, 119, 247, 263, 393, 469. 

3: 29 246,445,448. 

4: 38 471. 



Mark. — Continued. 

CHAP.- VS. PAGE. 

5 373,246. 

6: 3 217,496,497,500. 

7 : 1-13 . . 119, 129, 328, 386, 410, 453. 

8:36 488. 

9 132,442,445,480. 

10 442, 69,535. 

12: 25-27.. 503, 517. 

12: 28-34.. 120, 124, 290, 314, 316, 417, 429, 432, 
469, 516, 531. 

13 60, 61,129. 

14 283,261. 

15: 40 499. 

16: 16-18.. 239, 243, 459, 474, 535. 

Luke. 

1 210, 132, 498, 226, 569, 413. 

1: 35 129,131,284,453. 

2: 26 119,326,589. 

2: 36-38.. 226, 423. 

3 535, 215. 

4 211,217,358. 

6: 21 482. 

7 119, 603, 535, 600, 393, 118, 243. 

8 243,373,246. 

9: 35, 61.. 288, 451. 
10: 16, 26.. 479, 211. 

11 69, 362, 234, 119, 364, 339. 

12: 4, 5.. 481. 

13: 28 461,482,505. 

14 502,449,117. 

15 242, 261, 246, 280, 461, 376, 415. 

16: 8, 9.. 453, !<62. , 

16: 15-18.. 119, 120, 263, 385, 454. 

16: 19-31.. 479-480, 487, 506, 512. 

17 243, 29,459. 

18: 42 118,243. 

19 481. 

20: 4, 36.. 600, 276. 

22: 25. ....450. 

22: 15-21.. 283, 284, 453. 

23 479,320. 

23: 33-42.. 118, 448. 

24 343,376. 

24: 45-48.. 118, 239, 244, 247, 389, 412. 

John. 

1: 1 309-310,321,343,383. 

1 599, 262, 347, 383, 482, 74, 382, 384, 

535, 481, 600, 353. 

1: 13 119,245,393,513. 

1: 18 288,345, 35S. 

1: 33, 34.. 132, 357, 535. 

2 212,452,246,260. 

3 : 3 - 7 . . 126, 240, 241, 266, 469, 512, 513, 602, 

39a 

3 74,244,599,119. 

3: 15, 16.. 260, 330, 452. 

3: 18 118, 119,245,260. 

3: 22-26.. 69,535,599,600. 



616 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



John.— Continued. 

CHAP. TS. 

4..... ....234, 535, 

5 118,501, 

5: 39 120,209, 

6 260, 71, 

6: 40-47.. 118, 260, 

7 497,499, 

8 486,117. 

9: 4 452. 

10 117,120, 

11 504,118, 

12 212,264, 

13 282,358, 

13: 25-35.. 282, 283, 

13: 35 119,272, 

14 472,117, 

15 368,383, 

16 364, 71, 

17 270,322, 

358, 
17: 1-3.. 69,124, 
19: 38-40.. 520. 

20 265,281, 

20: 30-31.. 68, 87, 

21 521,209, 

Acts. 

1 240,535, 

1: 13-15.. 68,226, 

2 235,455, 

2: 1- 4.. 226, 227, 

2: 14-21.. 118, 119, 

394, 

2: 26-31.. 261, 480, 

' 2: 38, 39..118, 241, 

seq. 

475, 

2: 41 118,405, 

2: 47 119,264, 

3: 16 118. 

3: 19 25,117, 

4: 2, 4.. 502, 246. 

5: 31 246,247, 

6 225,246, 

7: 38, 59.. 324, 325, 
8: 12-17.. 246, 260, 
8: 21-24.. 117, 247, 

8 422,536, 

8: 38 246,416, 

9 ,448,246, 

246. 

10 109,118, 

117, 

10: 37 264,274, 

10: 43-46.. 118, 235, 

394, 

10: 47, 48.. 119, 235, 

11 235,600, 

11: 26 119,326, 

12: 2, 17 .,499. 



PAGE. 

245, 69, 60,260. 
502, 09, 288, Tt\. 
210, 624. 
504, 376, 520. 
475. 
344, 260. 



69, 481, 624, 132, 469, 535. 
501. 
360. 
436. 
455. 
393. 

120,357-355, 69, 60, 131. 
117. 

60. 
377, 455, 624, 71, 112, 368, 
511, 71. 
131, 417, 516. 

69, 261. 

124, 132, 209, 240, 316, 335. 
210. 

600. 

307, 405, 497, 499. 

261, 270, 271. 

307, 405, l$5. 

227, 235, 243, 244, 319, 320, 

423, 448, 508. 

5t)3. 

243, 245, 246, 247, 249, 259 

264, 266, 364, 391, 394, 413, 

535. 

426, 474, 535, 535. 

426, 474, 624. 

118, 243, 244, 246, 247, 393. 



422. 

320, 364. 

364, 535. 

448, 119, 234, 474, 

246, 474. 

535. 

320, 118, 449, 246, 



475. - 

535, 132, 
449, 589, 



235, 270, 4£6, 508, 

217. 

600. 

236,237,240,243,244,268, 

413, 435, 449. 

246, 364, 416, 535. 

389, 246. 

588 seq. 



Acts.— Continued. 

CHAP. VS. PAGE. 

13 246,211,399. 

13: 39 119, 240, 243, 271, 394. 

14 246,118. 

14: 27 119,246,257. 

15. 380, 466, 117, 499, 425, 211, 257, 434, 

37*. 

16 119,389,246,535. 

16: 30-33.. 236, 243, 244, 265, 270, 391, 394, 535. 

17 246, 213, 360, 502, 1 19. 

17: 25-29.. 237, 245, 513, 516. 

18: 8. .'...246, 535. 

18: 24-28.. 117, 118,244,600. 

19 246,261. 

19: 1-10. . 118, 119, 244, 246, 260, 261, 262, 474, 

475, 535, 600. 
19: 32-41.. 324, 325,426. 
20: 7, 11.. 380, 343. 

20: 21 117,248,262. 

20: 24-28.. 325, 365, 569. 

21 439,441,499,246. 

22: 3 452. 

22: 16 241,265,535. 

23: 16-24.. khl. 

24: 15 262,357,502. 

24: 26 343. 

26 117,240,248,211. 

27: 24-31.. 423. 
28: 24 246. 

Romans. 

1 225,467, 63,461. 

1: 22, 23.. 170, 289, 462, 517, 626. 

2: 6-15.. 469, 496. 

2: 14-29.. 120, 353, 380, 244, 600. 

3: 20-31.. 39, 120, 245, 118, 271, 413, 443. 

4 244,245, 212,246. 

4: 4-11.. 118, 246, 405. 

5. 117, 118, 257, 470, 68, 505. 

5: 11 68, 69,359. 

6 502,446. 

6: 3, 4 . . 118, 245, 246, 260, 262, 265, 266, 394, 
405, 416, 476, 535. 

8 120, 501, 393, 243, 320, 513. 

9: 20 120. 

10 109, 117, 118, 119, 236, 270, 509, 244. 

10 : 7-18 . . 245, 250, 262, 280, 389; 474. 

11 118,245, 60. 

11: 16-26.. 368, 425, 490. 

12: 3 389. 

13: 8- 10.. 117, 120, 272, 332. 

13: 14 120, 266. 

14: 1-22.. 120, 394, 520, 602. 

15 327,212, 117. 

16 391,439,212. 

I. Corinthians. 

1 69, 624. 

1: 12-17.. 120, 260, 433, 535. 
2 117,285,307,347. 



SCRIPTURE INDEX 



647 



.I. Corinthians.— Continued. • 

CHAP. VS. PAGE. 

8 504,520, 68. 

5: 1-13.. 244, 307, 363, 459. 

6 459,307,322,540. 

8: 4 - 7. . 69, 87, 123, 131, 417, 469, 516. 

8: 12 246. 

10 : 2-12 . . 241, 245, 260, 261, 266, 368, 399, 535. 
10: 27-29.. 458. 

11 340, 401, 425, 458, 325. 

12: 13 260, 266, 290, 389, 535, 600. 

13 394,531. 

13: 13 117,119,332. 

14: 33 325. 

14: 34, 35.. 225, 3£0, 423. 

15 502, 504, 461, 535, 357, 74, 513, 480. 

.15: 1-21.. 360, 502, 503, 563. 
15: 22-28.. 131, 222, 322, 382, 385, 439, 445, 452, 

457, 490, 506, 516, 564. 
16: 20, 22.. 391, 117. 

II. Corinthians. 
1: 13, 20.. 211, 235. 

2: 17 265. 

4: 2 265. 

5: 21 358. 

7: 1 119. 

8: 9,12.. 71,394,496. 
13 393, 92,391. 

Galatians. 

1 380, 69, 74,499. 

2: 9,' 16.. 499, 120. 

3 119,386, 68,535. 

3: 1-12.. 119, 120, 364. 

4: 18 452. 

5 307. 

5 : 4-22 . . 117, 119, 120, 332, 458, 489. 
6 331,332, 120. ' 

Ephesians. 

1. 120,451, 119. 

2 243, 120,475,471,540. 

2: 9 118,245,257. 

3 212,519, 120,518. 

4 328, 476, 332, 389, 519, 364, 243. 

4 : 3 - 6 . . 123, 131, 1,29, 469, 516, 519, 535. 

5 331,459. 

6: 1-4. .331. 

Philippians. 

1: 17 265. 

2: 5-11.. 71,182,384,451,482. 

3 502,504. 

4 .439,111. 

Colossians. 

1: 5,27. .118. 

1: 10-20.. 288, 451, 489. 

2: 8 265. 

2: 11-1 4.. 118, 416,535. 
-3 332, 74. 



Colossia ns.— Continued. 

CHAP. VS. PAGE. 

3: 1 69,416,501,535. 

4: 16 211. 

I. Thessalonians. 
4: 7, 16.. 540, 502. 

5: 23-27.. 344, 391, 211. 

II. Tliessalonians. 

1: 9,10..349,451, 271. 
2 624,262, 130. 

I. Timothy. 

1: 5, 17.. 117, 453,288. 

2 118,474,401,423. 

3 ;.441, 68,325,521,365. 

4: 1-16.. 120, 422, 441. 

5: 1,24.. 68,459. 

6 264,288,323,120. 

II. Timothy. 
1: 9 444. 

2 503,248,389. 

3: 15-17.. 120, 212, 307, 469, 624. 
4: 2, 13.. 212, 265, 4S1. 
5: 2 ....439. 

Titus: 

1: 15 h53. 

2: 11 245,263. 

3: 5 245,459,474. 

3: 10 458. 

Philemon. 

15 444. 

Hebrews. 

1 335. 

1 : 1- 3 . . 1 12, 222, 264, 469, 490, 516. 

2: 2, 3.. 119, 204,274, 4SS. 

2: 7, 16.. 214, 71. 

2: 14 71,445,490,506. 

4 '..488,356,319. 

5 481,472. 

5: 12 117,247,393. 

.6: 1, 2..117, 247, 248, 393, 444, 469, 502, 539. 

6: 4-8. .488. 

7: 3 471. 

8 US, 589, 490, 120. 

8: 10 117, 118, 120. 

9: 22, 28.. 413, 359. 

10 489, 488. 

10 : 6-18 . . 120, 239, 259, 413, 460, 4S2. 

11 117, 589, 2S8. 

12 264, 489, 50&, 325, 518, 589. 

James. 

1...' 472,446,117. 

2: 16 110. 

3: 6 480. 

4 119,488,449. 



648 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



I. Peter. 

CHAP. VS. PAGE. 

1: 2, 23.. 344, 459, 385. 

3: 19 438. 

3: 21, 22.. 119, 234, 243, 453, 535. 
4: 6, 18.. 438, 488. 

4: 11 117,212,265. 

5: 14 391. 

II. Peter. 

1 117, 212, 265, U71. 

2 ....458,479,488. 

3: 10 383. 

I. John. 

1: 8-10.. 385, 392, i53. 

2. 453,117, 60. 

2: 1 280,385,540. 

2: 22, 23.. 124, 132,398. 

3 385,272,489. 

4: 7-21.. 119, 272, 288,393. 

4: 15 71,119,132. 

5 119, 71, 132, 128, 487, 506, 488, 332. 

5: 7 129,357-358,865. 

II. John. 

1: 1 139. 



Jude. 

CHAP. VS. PAGE. 

360,444,461,500. 

Revelation. 

1 211, 276, 241, 425, 365, 323. 480. 

3 589,489,452. 

3: 8 119,257,589. 

4 397,551. 

5 74, 321, 285, 397, 45L 

6: 4, 8... 374, 480. 

7: 14, 17.. 241, 482. 

11 iS9, U5U, 360 

12 624. 

13: 1 505. 

16: 18 180. 

17: 4, 5... 130, 505, 624. 

17: 15 265. 

19: 13 383. 

20 445, 506, 456, 119, 117. 

20: 4 490,501,505. 

20: 13-15.. 445, 480, 383, 487, 506, 511. 

21 506,489,471. 

22 U71, 68, 487, 22, ,'J77, 249, 451. 



TOPICAL INDEX. 



The numbers refer to the pages. 

Titles of articles are printed in capitals. 

First lines of occasional verses, to which Summerbell gave no title, are 
in italics. 

The word the is usually disregarded when beginning a phrase. 

Many of the references are, apparently, unimportant ; but excess of full- 
ness is mere desirable in an index than the reverse. 

The chaplain diary is not indexed in detail. 

The topical index serves as a table of contents, by observing the capi- 
tals. 

The abbreviation N. S. stands for N. Summerbell. 



Abbe Martinet's work, 206 

Abbott, A. J., 535 

Abbott, E. C, 278, 535 

Aberdeen, Earl of, 612, 613 

A bobolink bird sang this song on a 

tree, 634 
Abolitionist (see slavery), 605 
ABOUT "GOD'S BLOOD," 479 
Academician, 80 
Academiis, 165 
A CARD, 637 
Accounts of Publishing Agent, C. 

P. A., 521-525 
A CHILD'S OPINION, 638 
Activity of N. S., 121, 122, 123, 134, 

136, (see industry), 99, 56, 635 
Adam and Eve, 517, 547, 577 
Adams, John, 552, 558 
Adamsville, R. I., 23 
Address (conference), 79 
ADDRESS TO G. A. R., 592 
'Adrjc (see Hades), 479 
Adventism, 26, 27, 31, 47 
Aeons, 58, 59 

A FEW CORRECTIONS, 282 
Affirmative preaching, 419 
Affirming, 504 
Agabus, 423 
Aged fathers, 91 
Aggressiveness, 392 
Agnostic, 80 
Agrippa, 326 
Aionios, 349, 444, 445 
Alban settlement, 123 



ALBERT BARNES ON CHRIST, 

284 

Albigenses, 269 

Alexander the Great, 181 

Alexandrianism, 61, 224 

"A LITTLE CHILD" (total deprav- 
ity), 410 seq. 

Alkire, A. R., 471 

Alkires, 533 

Allen, Ira W., 134, 551, 553, 573 

Aliens, 553 

Allertons, 553 

"All the world vs. Athanasius," 
209. 

Alone, yet not alone, 101 

Alphabet, 177 

Amartia, 359 

Ambrose, 602 

American heathen, 55 

Amos, Alexander, 552 

Amusements of N. S., 638 

Amusing episode, 54, 232 

Ancient religious systems, 169-171 

Ancients' idea of education, 165 

Ancient superstitions, 168, 169 

Andrews, "walking concordance," 
552, 555 

AN EARNEST CHURCH AND 
MINISTRY,. 79, 91 

Angels, 58, 71, 75, 132, 214, 276-278, 
285, 374, 470, 482 

ANGELS, SERMON ON THE, 276 

Anger, 332 

AN INTERESTING FAMILY, 422 



649 



65(1 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Anna, the prophetess, 225, 226, 401 

Annihilation, 437 

Annual address, 79 

Answer to malicious squib, 66 

Anthony, Gould, 562 

ANTICHRIST, 378 seq. 

Antioch College, 29, 133, 473, 542, 

543, 572 seq., 587, 588, 631 
u Antioch John," 552 
Antioch presidents all have been 

strong, 587 
Antislavery, apostle, 552 
An ti slavery convention, president, 

78 
Antwerp, 627 
Apollos, 520 
Apostacy, 80, 83 seq. 
Apostles' Creed, 428 
Apostolic church, character of, 111 
Apostolic principles, 103, 104 
APPEAL TO THE RELIGIOUS 

PRESS, 311 
Apprentices, 220 
Arbitration, 351 
Archangel, 277 

ARE INFANTS LOST? 124-127 
Arianism, 127-133, 209, 463, 464 
Aristocracy (false), 219 
Aristotle, 80, 304, 312 
" Arkansaw Traveler," 55 
Ark wright, Richard, 220 
Armenian Church, 632 
Arminians, 463, 464 
Army church, 137 seq. 
Army diary, 137 seq. 
Army life, 136 seq. 
Arrival in England, 610 
Art, 210 
Artaxerxes, 181 
Asbury (Bishop), 557 
Ashleys, 553 

Asiatics characterized, 168 
Assassination of Lincoln, 204 
ASSIST THE MINISTERS, 379 
As well might the clothing in which 

he was drest, 156 
Athanasius vs. all the world, 209 - 
Atheism, 229 
AT HOME, 629 
Atonement, 66, 68, 78, 79, 102, 127, 

130, 294, 359, 368, 554, 557 
ATONEMENTJUSTIFICATION, 

ETC 39 
ATONEMENT, THE, 78 
Attributes, 344 
Attributes of God, 58, 64 
Audacity of N. S., 166, 148, 152 
Augsburg Confession, 556 
" Autobiography of Elder Matthew 

Gardner," 278 



A Watchman Fallen, 293 

Baal's religion popular, 107 

Babels, 342 

Baccalaureate address, 167 

Bacon, 312 

Badger, Joseph, 84, 553 

Bagley, 553 

Baileys, 553 

Baker, John, 138, 553, 568 

Baldness, 65, 122 

Bankrupt laws, 454 

Baptism, 13, 69, 102, 117-120, 233 
seq., 353, 415, 460, 506-510, 535 

BAPTISM, 365 

BAPTISM ACROSS THE DOOR, 
599 

Baptismal regeneration, 223, (see 
Campbellism, water salvation, 
etc.), 233 seq., 310, 394, 448, 453, 
603 

Baptism and conversion, 474, 475, 
507 seq., 565 

Baptism and fellowship, 600 seq. 

Baptism and liberty, 374 seq. 

Baptism a seal, 252 

Baptism first, described, 554 

Baptism for the dead, 461 

Baptism incident, 99, 100, 111, 423 

Baptism, mode of, 365, 374 seq., 
423, 469, 565 

Baptism not a birth, 512 

BAPTISM— REMINISCENCE, 423 
seq. 

Baptist and Quaker, 507 

Baptists, 104, 266, 324, 405, 406, 409, 
601 

Baptizo, 281 

BAPTIZO EIS— ALL THE PAS- 
SAGES, 260 

Barber, 553 

Barker, J., 40 

Barker, the infidel, on Christ, 185 

Barlow, 553 

Barnabas, 381 

Baraes, Albert, 129, 284, 358, 365, 
398, 588 

Barns better than churches, 86 

Barr, Oliver, 55, 64, 77, 543, 552, 
636 

Barrett, 553 

Barrett, Eaton S., 572 

Barrett, J. P., 637, 638 

Beach, 553 

Beautiful, the, 564 

BEAUTY AND EXPRESSIVE- 
NESS OF SCRIPTURE 
PHRASEOLOGY, 50 

Beaver churches, 510 - 

Beck, C. A., 631 

Beecher, Dr., 407, 408 



TOPICAL INDEX 



651 



Beecher, H.W., 407, 408, 451, 467, 468 
Behavior in church, 109 
BELIEFS CONTRADICTING 

SCRIPTURE, 547 
Believer justified, 118 
" Believers iu God," 380 
Believing at will, 352 
Beller, Win., 231, 629, 630 
Benevolence of N. S., 630 
Berlin, 628 
Bethany church, 629 
Bethany College, 253 . 
Better paid servantsthan preachers, 

86 
Bible, 129, 167 seq., J 80, 206, 211, 

213, 267, 289, 344, 346, 407, 430, 

451, 547, 554 
BIBLE BILL OF FARE, 375 
Bible language, 349, 420 
BIBLE LOOKING GLASS, 117-122 
BIBLE, THE, 570 
Bible the arbiter on doctrine, 420, 

430 
Bible witness, 128 
Biblical department (U. C. College), 

134 
''Biblical School," 542, 543, 550, 627 
Big farm, 57 
BIGOTRY, 559 
Bigotry, 34, 38, 339, 366, 399, 409, 

604, 624 
Bigotry disappearing, 367 
Big Spring Prairie, 54, 55 
BILL OF FARE, BIBLE, 375 
Biuer, Hannah, 339, 340 
BIRD'S EYE VIEW, 67-69 
Birth sin, 125, (see original sin, 

total depravity) 
Blackberry, 55 
Blackmar, Joseph, 549, 553 
Blackwell, Dr. John A., 137, 138 
Blaine, James G., 629 
Blakeney, 8 

Blasphemous doctrine, 238 
Blasphemy, 130, 131 
Blauvelt, Augustus, 378 
Blooming Grove, N. Y., 542 
Blose, Wm. P., 292 
Boastiug, 486 
"Body of God," 131 
Bolingbroke, 169 
Books, 76, 77 
Books as tools, 123 
Books, their uses, 164, 165 
Book waiter, Warren, 528 
Boord, John S., 135, 136 
Boothby, John, 550 
"Born of spirit," 507, 513 
"Born of water," 265, 512, 513, (see 

Campbellisni) 



Bradley, Wm. T 358 
Branchville, N. J., 24, 25 
Breakfast under difficulties, 140 
"Breaking Summerbell's Looking 

Glass," 122 
Breath, 360 
Brothers and sisters of Jesus, 496 

seq. 
Brown, John W., 293 
Brush, J. E., 13, 77 
Bucephalus, 161 
Buckner, Ellen, 439, 459 
Buck's Theological Dictionary, 58 
Buddha, 337 
Buff, N. G., 133 
Bully defeated, 11 
Bunyan, 269, 601 
Burgstresser, John, 605 
Burkholder Post G. A. R., 592, 

599 
Burlingame, 553, 571 
Burlington church, 49 
Burnham, Hezekiah, 552 
Burning of writings, 45 
Burns, J., 471 
Burns, John, 138 
Burritt, 216, 220 
Business success, 525 
Butler, S. Wright, 562, 563 
BUT THE WILL, 258 
Byron, 164 

Cadmus, teacher of letters, 177 
Cain, 229, 319, 405, 439, 462 
Calendar, 175, 176 
CALENDAR, A. D. 34, 352 
Call, Daniel, 552 
Call to preach, 119 
Calvin, John, 81, 352, 408, 410 
Calvin, S. O., 33, 35, 45, 99, 100 
Calvinism, 10, 60, 61, 69, 293, 294, 

330, 346, 352, 353, 368, 379, 423, 

424, 429, 489 
Campbell, Alexander, 40 seq., 46, 

116, 126, 224, 233 seq., 250, 252, 

253, 257, 263, 267, 271, 274, 281, 

392 
Campbell and Rice Debate, 41 , 237, 

241, 251, 252, 253, 257, 263, 274 
Campbellisni, 20 seq., 40 seq., 117- 

122, 125, 126, 223, 233 seq., 280, 

281, 310, 390 seq., 443, 447-44<», 

507-509 
"Campbell on Baptism," 252 
Campbell's testimony, 236 
Camp church, 138 
Camping, 95-97 
Cane Ridge revival, 494, 495 
Can war be right? 189 
Capital, 216 
Capital punishment, 460 



652 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Cappe, Catherine, 433, 570 
Card playing surrenders, 46 
Card, postal, 637, 638 
CARE FOR CONVERTS, 415 
Carlton, 8. P., 275, 276 
Carriage, traveling, 95 
Carrying sick soldier, 135 
Cass, Gen., 198 
Catching with dogs, 35 
Catechising, 35 

CATEGORICAL ANSWERS, 352 
Catherine de Medici, 311 
Catholic Bible, 506 
CATHOLIC FASTINGS, 485, 486 
Catholic position, 206-213, (see Ro- 
manism) 
Catholic priest unlike Philip, 422 
CELEBRATED ACTS 2:38, 259 
Celibacy of tha clergy, 441 
Centerville, Ohio, 76 
Chad wick, 548, 571 
CHAINING THE DRAGON, 279 
Challenge, 64 
Challenged to debate, 55 
Chapin, 466 
Chaplain, 136-153 
Character of Christ, 70 
CHARACTER OF GOD, 288 
Character of N. S., 7, 51, 53, 94, 136, 

137, 144, 223, 541, 561, 606, 616, 

630, 632, 635, 636 
Charity, 518, 520 
CHARITY, 530., 531 
Charity and toleration, 394, 395, 510, 

(see union), 515, 604 
Charity churches, 510 
Charity not produced by liberty 

and knowledge, 107 
Charlemagne, 154, 343 
Charleston, 196 
Charnock, 63 
Cherubim, 277, 374 
Chicago fire, 275 
Childhood, 411 
Children, 120, 158 seq., 170-173, 478, 

547, 629, 630 
CHILDREN, OUR, 441 
Chinese, 478 
Chinese exclusion, 615 
Choirs, 447 

Cholera (in Cincinnati), 51 
Chrematizo, 326, 588-590 
Chrishna, 224 
Christ, 70-75, (see Son of God), 112, 

113-115, 124, 159, 182, 211, 466 

seq., 547, 557 
Christ, divinity of, 348, 466 
Christendom, confusion of, 107, 108 
Christendom, sketch of, 553 
Christening, 35 



."Christian Advocate" (newspaper), 

11, 18 
"Christian Age" (newspaper), 357 
CHRISTIAN CHURCH, (origin, 

etc.), 491-495 
Christian Church (origin, etc.), 551, 

552, 567 seq., 601 
Christianity, 564 

Christianity alive, 224, 337, 566 seq. 
CHRISTIAN MINISTERS, 316 seq. 
Christian (name), 25, 50, 51, 106, 

306, 325, 425, 588-590, 624, 637 
Christian (name), (objections met), 

105 
"Christian Principles " (the sermon 

pamphlet), 291, 561 
Christian principles, 637 
Christian Publishing House, 283, 

275, 307, 308, (see Publishing 

House), 514 
"Christian Pulpit" (magazine), 

233, 275 
Christians, 14, 16, 50, 51, 103 seq., 

82, 306 seq., 311, 327 seq., 331, 

355, 379, 387, 478, 479, 491-495, 

518, 521, 527, 553, (see early 

Christians) 637 
Christians and Unitarians, 469 
Christians' Creed, 206 
Christians' mission, The, 419 seq., 

(see truth, union, etc.) 
Christians orthodox, 395, 479, 526 
Christians trinitarians ? 468 
Christian Sun (newspaper), 605, 637 
CHRISTIAN UNION, 507 
Christian Weekly (newspaper), 285 
CHRISTOLOGY, 335 seq. 
Christ's career, 112 seq. 
Christ's character, 70 
Christ's coming, 472 
Christ's great descent, 335 
Christ's knowledge, 60, 70 
Christ's power, 63 
CHRIST'S TRIUMPH OVER ALL, 

322 
CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIV- 
ING GOD, 424 
Church, 264, 324 seq., 507 seq., 564 

seq. 
Church Advocate (newspaper), 324, 

475 
CHURCH — CHRISTIAN OR 

CATHOLIC, 425 seq. 
CHURCH COMING UP OUT OF 

THE WILDERNESS, 32 
CHURCH ELDERS, 458 
Church history, 64, 232 
Church meetings, 47 
Church, oldest, 425 
Church set up by Christ, 426 



TOPICAL INDEX 



653 



Church, The true, 623 

Church troubles, 47 

Cincinnati, 30, 46, 47, 57, 58, 75, 91- 

93, 135, 205, 213, 232, 278, 535 
Cincinnati convention, 77, 78, 605 
Circumcision, 252 
"City of New York" (steamship), 

627, 629 
Civil w*, 135 

Clark, Hon. David, 607, 612, 618, 627 
Clark, Hon. James, 617 
Clark, Robert, 617, 618 
Clarke, Adam, 60, 66, 67, 129, 131, 

326, 327, 340, 358, 364, 365, 402, 

408, 453, 588 
Clarke, Samuel, 417 
Classics, 164, 165 
Class leader, 68 
Cleanliness, 11 
CLEANSING, 459 
Clean speech, 35 
Clemens Alexandrinus, 73 
Clement, 268 

Clerk and clergyman, 154, 343 
Clevenger, B. L., 459 
Clinton, 111., 223 
CLOAK, THE PARSON'S, 305 
Close Baptist, 510 
Close communion, 283, 450, 510 
Clough, Simon, 22, 23, 24, 26, 31, 42, 

84, 538, 541, 548, 552, 555, 557, 

571, 601 
Coarseness toward women in Eu- 
rope, 621 
Coats, Harriet, 549 
Coeducation, 574 seq. 
Coincidence, 82 
Colby, J. T., 549 
Cole, Henry, 455 
Coliseum, 184 
Colt, Sarah, 576 
Comings, 548 
Communion, 42, 106, (see Lord's 

supper), 283, 366, 394, 458, 504, 

601 , 602 
Communion wine, 351, 466 
Compromise, 427, 520 
Con ant, 56 

Concordance, walking, 555 
Conditional immortality, 367 
Condition of the people before 

Christ, 182-184 
Confederacy, 198., 199 
Conference, 466 
Conference address, 79 
Confession, 280 
Confession of faith, 565 
Conflict of principles, 206 
CONFLICT, THE, 369, (science and 

revelation) 



Confucius, 80, 337 
CONFUCIUS, 375 
Congregationalist, 57 
Congregationalist government, 106 
Conneaut, Ohio, 213, 278, 291, 292, 

379 
Conscience and punishment, 4S6 
Conspirators, 114 
Coustantine the Great, 209, 270, 306, 

381, 382, 427, 602 
Constantinople, 362 
Constantinople (council), 74 
Contradictions of Scripture, 344 
Contrast, 92 

"Controversy and usefulness," 636 
Conversion, 21, 117, 233 seq., 356, 

460, 473 seq., 547 
Conversion of N. S., 12-14 
Conversions in army, 143 
Convert from sectarianism, 57 
Converting an M. E. minister, 56 
Cook, Joseph, 366, 378, 409 
COOK'S LECTURE, 348 
Cooley, 32, 33 

Cooley ("Aunt Anna"), 44, 606 
Cooper, Dr. J. S., 137, 138 
Copernicus, 304, 312 
Cornelius, 21, 236 seq. 
CORRECTIONS, 283 
Corrupt judges, 171-173 
Corydon, 122 
Costume (of N. S.), 305 
COUPLETS OF PHILOSOPHY, 640 
Courage, Christian, 534, 535, 106 
Courage (Lincoln), 202 
Courage (N. S.), 121, 122, 166 
Cousins of Christ, 496 seq. 
Covenant, 120, 455 
Craig, Austin, 27, 36, 46, 541-551, 

571, 588 
CRAIG, DR., 541 
Craig, Emma, 36, 541, 544 
Craig, Lulu, 542 
Craig, Moses, 46, 541 
Craig, Mrs. McCarn, 543, 545 
Craig, Rachel, 541, 545 
Craven, E. R., 432 
Creation, 112, 177, 214, 215, 222, 295, 

335, 345, 369 seq., 400, 517 
CREED, A PERFECT, 428 
Creedism, 329, 390, 409, 531, 566 
Creedism leads to blasphemv, 421, 

623, 624 
Creeds, 14, 23, 25, 58, (see discipline) 

68, 69, 74, 80 seq., 102, 105, 108, 

124, 128, 133, 289, 355, 378, 407, 

427, 428 seq., 491-495, 565 
CREEDS AT THE DOOR OF THE 

CHURCH, 409 
Creeds teach error, 420 



654 



SUMMERBELL, AND WRITINGS 



Creed, the one commanded to be 

taught, 478 
Crist, Father, 95 
Criticism of Summerbell, 92 
Crittenden, 197 
Crowns, 552 
Croy & McFarland, 528 
CUI BONO, 332 
Cummings, 29, 36, 541 
Cummings, S., 397, 479 
Currency, 201 
Curry, 467 
Cyprian, 268 
Cyril, 268 
Dancing, 342 

Daniels (presiding elder), 478 
Dark Ages, 16, 107, 154, 465, 559 
Dartmouth, Mass., 23 
Darwin, 295, 312, 334 
Daugherty, J. P., 534 
Daughters, education of, 155 
David, 220, 342 
Davis, Frank L., 562 
Davis, Jefferson, 201 
Dawson, Elijah, 549 
Dawson, Naaman, 58, 549 
Day, S. M., 453 
Dayton, Ohio, 305, 307 
Deacon, 225, 504 
Deaconess, 225 
Deacons, Robert, 100 
Deakins, K. F., 461 
Dean, Gardner, 56 
Dearing, 78 
Death, 535 

Death a crisis in life, 230 
DEATH AND HELL, 456-458 
Death is like an ocean washing, 

641 
Death of Lincoln a blow to the 

South, 202 
Death of N. S., 7, 632 
DEATH OF THE POPE, 464 
Death, the second, 456 
DEATH, THOUGHTS ON, 228 
DEBATE BY SUMMERBELL AND 

FLOOD, 77 
Debates, 13, 55, 64-69, 76, 77, 223, 

275, 276, 292, 478, 636 
Deborah, 225, 401 
Debt of Publishing House, 514, 521- 

5^5 
Debts, 332 
Decalogue, 380, 545 
Deckertown, 24, 25 
Deck Wm. N., 436 
Decrees, 61, (see Calvinism, fate, 

etc.), 69, 293 
Dedication, 100-111 
Deeds, 68 



Defending the trinity (effort of X. 

S.), 15 
Deferring baptism, 270 
Defrauded, 11 
Deism, 229 

Delevan, Wis., 45, 46, 51, 57 
Delhi plan, 514, 522 
Demint, Jesse, 308, 528 
Demoniacs, 339, 373 
Demonology, 348 
Dennen, J. W., 375 
Denominational faithfulness, 327- 

329, 367, 387, 529 
Denominational success, 328, 329 
Denominational unfaithfulness, 85 
DENOMINATIONS, DUTY OF, 

511 
Depravity, (see total), 547 
Des Moines, 95, 98, 100, 116, 122, 

123, 133 
Destruction of wicked, 471 
Development, (see evolution) 
Devil, 353, 450 
DeVore, 534 
DEW DROPS, 450 
DIALOGUE, (Campbellism),20, 273 
DIALOGUE, THE, 314, 315 
Diary (army), 137 seq. 
Diatheke, 258 
Dicks, John, 468 
Did God ever, ever, sir, compromise 

evil?6S4 
Dillon, 35 
Diodorus, 589 
Disciples, 46, 116-122, 125, 126, 223, 

366 
DISCIPLES DESPERATE, 280 
Disciples' success, 391 
Disciples vs. Christians, 390 
Discipline, church, 105, 307, 331 
Discipline (Methodist), 56, 58, (see 

creeds), 68, 69, 125, 127 
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES, 

306 
Diversions of N. S., 638 seq. 
Dives, 364 

Dividing church, 249, 250 
Divinity of Christ, 311, 379, 466, 471, 

478, 479, 490 
Division, 69, 256, 289, 309, 313, 341, 

342, 355, 459, 511 seq. 
Divorce, 353, 386, 387, 518 
Doctrinal preaching, 55, 233 
DOCTRINE, 468 
Doctrine, 14, 55, 56, 70, 233, 354, 

429, 454 
Dofflemyer, W. A., 380 
Dogmas, 396, 420 

DOGMATIC CHRISTIANITY, 432 
DOGMATIC THEOLOGY, 310 



TOPICAL INDEX 



655 



Dogmatic writing, 233 

Dogmatism, 616 

Doherty, Prof. W. H., 75, 551, 573 

DOING AND SAYING, 510 seq. 

DOING GOOD, 532 

Domitian, 500 

Donations, 44 

DON'T KNOW, 295 

"Don't preach on doctrine," 55 

Dooley, 553, 554 

Door of faith, (see Campbell ism), 
257 

DO THE ANGELS SING? 285 seq. 

u Do the angels sing ?" one said, 285 

Doubleday, Joel, 550 

Douglas, 571 

Douglas, Frederick, 78, 135 

Douglass, John F., 138 

Downs, Dudley, 223 

Draper, 295, 312, 334, 370 

DR. SUMMERBELL'S APPOINT- 
MENTS, 605 

Drummond, Prof. Henry, 613 

Dual nature, 72, ( see "very man" ) 

Dublin, Ohio, 629, 630, 635, 636 

Duckworth, 32, 44, 46, 48 

Dudley, 548 

Dunkards, 390 seq. 

Dunlap, Jas., 550 

Dunlap, J. W., 453 

Dunlavy, John, 495 

Durane, F. P., 223 

Duration, 59 

DUTY OF DENOMINATIONS, 511 

Dykes, J., 365 

Early Christians, 84, 537, 538, 551, 
554, 555, 565, 566 

Early life of N. S., 7 seq. 

Early writing of N. S., 19 

Earnestness, 87 

EARTHLY FAMILY, THE, 497 
seq. 

Easter, 563-569 

Eaton, Ohio, 275 

Ebionites, 73 

Ecclesia, 324, (see Ekklesia), 325 

Eckel, A. S., 48 

Economy, 33, 44 

Editor, 305, 535 

Editorials (selected) in H. G. L. 
begin on p. 308 

Editorials (selected) (with other 
matter) end on p. 533 

EDITOR'S VALEDICTION,525-530 

Education, 12, 86, 154, 164, 316, 334 

Education of Ancients, 165 

Edwards, Justin, 408 

Effects of Christianity, 187 

Egyptians, 106 

EIGHT HOUR QUESTION, 214 seq. 



Etc (eis), 245, 246, 259 seq., 281, 394 

Ekklesia, 264, 425 

ELDER N. SUMMERBELL, 292 

Elders, 458 

Eldridge, 548 

Election, 424, (see Calvinism), 429, 

547 
Elijah, 107 
Eliphaz, 59 
Elizabeth, cousin of Virgin Mary, 

497, 498 
Elliot, 553 
Elohim, 214 

ELOHIM, GOD, JEHOVAH, 515 
Eloquence, 7 
Emilius Paulus, 1S4 
Emmaus, 25 
Emphatic diaglott, 589 
Endless miserv, 349, 443-447 
ENDLESS TORMENT, 443 
England, 362 
Enon, Ohio, 535, 536 
En route to Europe, 607 
Epicurean, 80 

Episcopacy, O'Kelly on, 537 
Episcopalianism, 366, 406 
Episode in Summerbell and Flood 

debate, 76 
Equality with God, 60 (see trinity) 
Ere out of their teens they are ready 

for ivives, 583 
Errett, Isaac, 257, 258, 280 
Error, 419, 427, 547 
Errors and creeds, 289, 427 
Errors, popular, 106 
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, 451 
Eternity, 58, 59 
Euclid and Homer, 165 
Eunomius, 301, 302 
Eunuch — was he converted ? 353 
Europe, 614-626 
Europeans characterized, 166 
Europe's religion, 625 
Eusebius, 269, 326, 499, 501 
Eutvchites, 463, 465 
EVANGELICAL — ORTHODOX v 

395 
Evans, 388 
Evans, Rev., 292 
Eve, 517 
Everett, 167, 241 
Everlasting punishment, 349 
EVIL SPIRITS, 339 
Evolution, 179, 334 
EVOLUTION, 313 
Ewing, X. W., 454 
EXAMPLES OF PRAYER, 237 
EXAMPLES OF SEEKING SAL- 
VATION AFTER DEATH, 

486-489 



656 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



EXCOMMUNICATIONS, 378 

Excuses against serving God, 449 
Executive officers, 427 
EXPLANATION, (editorial), 532 
Expositions, 342 seq., 352 seq., 356 

seq., 364 seq. 
Fair Haven, 23 
Faith, 248, 257, 352 
FAITH, 404 
Faith after repentance, 117, 247, 248, 

474, 508 
FAITH AND PRINCIPLES, 529 
Faith and works, 405 
Faith given, 3S9 
41 Faith, repentance, and baptism," 

508 
Fall, the, 112, 368 
Family (of earth and heaven), 336, 

496 
Family origin and early life of N. 

S., 7 seq. 
Family prayer, 85, 535 
Fan ton, B. S., 40 
Farewell to Cincinnati, 92 
Farrar, 444, 451, 618, 627 
FARRARISM, 446 
Fasting, 485, 486 

Fate, 60, 61, 346, 352, 353, 368, 423 
FATE OF THE HEATHEN, 496 
Fathers, 159 

Feet-washing, 282, 283, 390, 391, 436 
Fellowship, 307, 391, 508, 565, 570 
Feltville, N. J., 542 
Fergason, A. L., 367, 368, 438 
Ferris, 8 

Field, Lebbeus, 550 
Fifield, Dr., 379 
Finesville, N. J., 32 
First church of N. S., 601 
First "eol(f,"36, 37 
First govern well yourself, and bear 

in "mind, 161 
Fitzer, Charles, 45, 51 
Fixity, 230 
Flattery, 587 

Fletcher, J., (General Baptist), 618 
Flood debate, 76, 77 
Floyd, 19*7, 198 
Forbidding to marry, 422, 441 
Ford, David, 550 
Ford, Lydia M., 386, 459 
Forecasting history, 81 . 
Foreknowledge, 60, 61 
Foreordination, 228 (see Calvinism) 

(see fate), 354 
Forged Scriptures, 365 
Forgiveness, 39, 233 seq. 
Forrnan, Caroline, 33, 44, 606 
Forma u, Margaret, 48 
Forman, Paul, 46 



Form of worship, 565 

Fort Moultrie, 197 

Fort Sumter, 195 

FOR WHAT GOOD, 332-334 

Foster, David, 558 

"Four beasts," 374, 397 

Franklin, 216, 217, 220 

Franklinton school, 627 

Frederick, 337 

Free agency, 61 (see fate), 374, 470 

Freedom of speech, 192 

Freedom, religious, 83 

Free grace, 40 (see Calvinism) (see 

fate), 353 
Freemasonry, 221, 222 
"Freemen," 491 
Fremont, 302 
Freese, 23 

Frenchtown, N. J., 32, 45 
Fretz, Win., 470, 471, 472 
Frontier experiences, 57, 99 
Fugitive slave law, 78 
Fuller, G. B., 389 
Funeral oration (Lincoln), 189 
Funson, Samuel, 549 
Future punishment, 349 (see Uni- 

versalism), 383, 429, 443-447, 

450, (see punishment), 451, 479- 

481, 486-489 
Future taxation and prosperity, 201 
Gabriel, 277, 374 
Galileo, 304, 312 
G.' A. R, ADDRESS, 592 
Gardner, Matthew, 49, 58, 278, 548, 

552, 571 
Gaylord, Henderson, 28 
Gehenna, 479-481 
General Baptists, 606, 618 
General judgment, 459 
Genesis, 345, 346 
Georgia, 197 
German Baptists, 467 
"Get thee behind me, Satan," 630 
" Getting religion," 475 
Gibbon, 186, 537, 538, 572 
Gifford (General Baptist), 627 
Gill, 63 
Gillett, 29 
" Give to all, but don't give it all," 

630 * 

Giving, Christian, 110 
"Giving the invitation," 227 
GLORY OF GOD, 288 
Glory of Jesus, 321 
Gnostic, 80 
God, 159, 167, 515-517 
GOD, 314 

Godfrey, Grove K, 549 
God-man, 102 (see very man), 126, 

132 



TOPICAL INDEX 



657 



GOD, MY, 616 
GOD, THEIR, 617 

God's attributes, 58-64 

"God's brother," 131 

" God shed his blood," 478, 479 

"GODS" OR "GOD," 366 . 

God's sovereignty, 470 

God's throne, 397 

God the first Bible preacher, 343 

"God the Son," 345 

Goff, I. C, 27, 36, 45, 46, 49, 77, 541, 
548, 553 

Golden calf, 106 

GOLDEN GRAINS, 331 

Good works, 547 

Gordon, James G., 382 

Gospel and law, 383 

Gospel, civilizing, 294 

Gospeler, 355 

Gospel order, 117, 247 

Gospel preached in New England ? 
116 

Gospels, the, 330 

GOSPEL, THE, 293, 329 

Goss, Joseph A., 138 

Government of church, 106 

Goward's College, 18 

Grace, 382 

Grade of college, 134 

Grades in heaven, 483 

Graham College, 627, 628 

Grand Army address, 592 

Grand Lama, 464 

Grant, Daniel, 549 

GREAT AND GOOD, THE, 417 

Great work of the age, 563 

Greece, 168 

Greek Church, 302, 366, 416, 465 

GREEK CHURCH, PECULIARI- 
TIES OF, 410 

Green, Dr., 37, 38 

Greenpoint, 541 

Greenville, Ohio, 296, 305 

Greenwood, Thomas, 562 

Gregory, 176 

Gregory XVI., 465 

Groneweg, H. R, 528 

Guardian angels, 470 

Gulf Mills, Pa., 44 

Gutenburg, 210 

Habeas corpus, 194-201 

Habits (see character of N. S.), 10 

Hades, 439, 479, 506 

Haggard, 548 

Halbert (Captain), 138 

Hancock, Major, 549 

Hard times, 296, 298 

Harless, Thomas, 92 

Harpers Ferry, 199 

Harvard College, 132 

42 



Harvey, 40, 553 

HAVE A LIGHT IN THE WIN- 

_ DOW,96 

Havens, C. W., 26, 28, 36 

Hawk, Philip J., 549 

Hawley, 601 

Hawley, R E., 138, 440 

Hawn (Colonel), 135 

Hayes, 553, 571 

Hazen, J., 40, 548, 549, 550, 552 

HEADS OF A SERMON, 481 

Hear a class, 157 

Heath, A. R, 194 

Heath, Harpin L., 31 

Heath, Mary Edna, 540, 541, 606, 

613, 614, 631, 632 
Heath, Mary Summerbell, 431 
HEATHEN, FATE OF THE, 496 
Heathenism, 55, 170 
Heathenism and labor, 221 
HEAVEN, 482, 483 
Heaven holy, 540 
Hebrews, 171-181, 221, 314 
Hegesippus, 267, 499 
Hell, 439, (see Universal] sm), 166, 

444-447, 461, 467, 479, 506 
HELL, DEATH AND, 456 seq. 
Helphrey, L., 385 
Henry, 111., 56, 64 
Henry III., 221 
Henry, Mrs., 631 
Henry, Thomas, 549, 550 
Henry, William, 549, 550, 553 
Herald and Presbyter (newspaper), 

378, 432 
HERALD BREATHINGS, 467 
HERALD FLASHES, 477 
Herald of Gospel Liberty, 84, 305, 

307, 514, 522-530, 534 
HERALD, THE, 514, 515 
Her angel spirit too pure for earth, 

431 
Heresy, 458 
Heresy trials, 432, 433 
Heretic, 33, 34 
Heretical popes, 465 
Heretics, 341, 407, 512 
Herod, 229 
Heroism, 135 
Heterodox, 395 
Hezekiah, 228, 352, 353 
Hierarchy, 367 

Higher criticism, 345 seq., 460 
Hilary, 73 

History of the Christians, 64, 232 
History, pagan and Jewish, 186 
Hitchcock, Stenhen, 549 
Hix, Daniel, 552, 568, 571 
Hobbs, 169 
Hobby, 515 



658 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Hoeffer, Wm, 301, 475 

Hoff Settlement, 123 

Hogate, Charles F., 138 

Holdaway, John H., 138 

HOLD THE FORT, 327 

HOLINESS, 536-540 

Holiness ("higher life"), 433, (see 

perfection) 
Holland, E. G., 40, 548, 549, 550, 571 
Holland, N. J., 605, 606, 631 
Holmes, Mrs. L. L., 462 
Holmes, Thomas, 205, 573 
HOLY FAMILY, THE, 496-501 
Holy Spirit, 345, 545, 557, 560 
HOLY SPIRIT AND ITS WORK, 

THE, 363 
HOLY SPIRIT, THE, 284 
Holy water, 427 
HOME, 338 
HOME, AT, 629 
Homer, 220 
Homer, J. R., 401 
Homeward, 627 
Homiletics, 343 
Homily, 343 
Honesty, 332 

Hope, N„ J., 22-27, 30, 31, 33, 38 
Horace Mann, 551 
House of God, 101, 108 seq., 340 
How, 548 

HO W DO THEY ORGANIZE ? 306 
Howe, Moses, 549, 550, 552, 568 
How he stopped the noise, 65 
How light we felt, if he but smiled 

on us, 163 
HOW TO PROMOTE A REVI- 
VAL, 452 
HOW TO STOP A REVIVAL, 452 
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK, vii 
Hughes, John, 206 
Huguenots, 311 
Huldah, 225, 401 
Human chattel, 172 
Humanitarian system, 72, (see very 

man), 71, 128, 453, 466 seq., 493, 

(see Unitarianism) 
Human sacrifice, 128, 170, 478, 479 
HUMAN WANTS, 19 
Hume, 169, 179 
Humility vs. perfection, 385 
Humor, 28 
Humphreys, E. W., 134, 231, 534, 

535, 551, 571, 629 
Humphrey, W. H., 389 
Hunnias, 417 
Huntley, 553 
Huntzingle, Jas. W., 461 
Hurd, James H., 138 
Hutchinson, S. A., 636 
Huxley, 295, 334 



Hyatt, F. J., 462 
Hymn-book, Christian, 552 
" I can't join your church," 58 
Idle moments of N. S., 638-641 
Idleness a sin, 214, 440, 628 
Idolatry, 132, 462, 517, 615, 622, 623, 

626 
IFS AND BUTS, THE, 451 
I have but one; but she J s my pet, 

587 
" I '11 dig the grave," 111 
ILLINOIS DEBATE— METHO- 
DISTS VS. CHRISTIANS, 66, 

67 
Illinois legislature, 49, 554 
Imbecility of popular ministry, 334 
Immaculate conception, 465 
Immortality, 59, 368, 378, 382, 445, 

446, 450, 451, 456, 460 
Immortality, natural, an error, 547 
Immutability, 60 
Imperial pedagogue! How like a 

king he walked ! 162 
Impressions, 275 
Incense and persecution, 107 
In center of the street it stood, 156 
Industry, 298, 332, 44'0 
Industry of N. S., 76, 122, 123, 134,, 

308, 605, 617, 618, 627, 628, 629 

(see activity of N. S.) 
Infallibility, 207, 209, 406, 410, 465 
Infant damnation, 125, 139 
Infants and idiots, 120 
Infants in hell, 378 
Infants (see original sin), 39, 124 
Infidelity, 167 seq., 224, 287, 295, 

' 337, 371, 619 
Infidelity and death, 229 
INFINITE ATTRIBUTES, 58 
Infinity, 58-63, 154, 345, 453 
Inflated currency, 201 
Ingersoll, 295, 630 
In order to, 118, 259 seq. 
Inquisition, 107, 559 
Inspiration, 211, 347, 471 
Instrumental music, 447 
INTERESTING FAMILY, AN, 422: 
Intermediate state, 506 
Investigating the trinity, 17 
Invitations to sinners, 227 
Iorns, Joshua, 300 
Iowa, 115, 116 
Ireland, 362 
Ireland, David, 558 
Irenaeus, 73, 268 
Irvington, N. J., 23 
I saw that father again when old r 

587 
IS IMMERSION BAPTISM? 415 
Italian priest and N. S., 404 



TOPICAL INDEX 



•659 



Itinerary, 122, 123 

IT IS IMPRACTICABLE, 250 

ITS NAME WAS CHRISTIAN, RE- 
VIEW, 324-327 

Jacksonville, 111., 253 

Jacob, 100, 101 

Jacoba, 26 

Jacobus, 326 

James I., King, 426 

James, the brother of Jesus, 498, 
'seq., (the Just) 

James, the brother of John, 498, 499 

James the Less, 499 

James, W. H., 343 

Jay, Wm., 549, 550 

Jefferson, Thomas, 40, 41, 554 

Jehovah, 515-517 

Jehu, 868 

Jerome, 301 

Jesus (see Christ), 330-331, 498, 543, 
544, 548 

Jesus a Hebrew, 223 

JESUS AND HIS GLORY, 321-323 

Jesus and Mohammed, 187 

JESUS'APPE AR ANCE IN GLORY, 
323 

Jesus' birth, 498 

Jesus' brothers and sisters, 497 seq. 

Jesus our advocate, 359 

(Jesus) THE SINNER'S FRIEND, 
323 

JESUS, THE SON OF GOD, 70-75 

JESUS WORSHIPED IN HEAVEN, 
322 

Jewell, Mary, 95 

Jews, 167 seq., 612, 613 

Jews and crucifixion, 483, 484 

John's baptism, 600, 603 

JOHN'S GOSPEL, 470 

Johnson, Ben, 220 

Johnsonburg, 26, 31 

Johnson, W. T., 460 

John the Baptist, 498 

Joining a sectarian church, 484 

Jonathan Ben Uzziel, 546 

Jones, Abner, 84, 548, 571 

Jones, D. F., 356, 357 

Jones, Inigo, 220 

Jortin, 302 

Joseph, the husband of Mary, 497 

Joseph, the patriarch, 220 

Josephus, 181, 267, 498, 500, 516, 589 

Joses, the brother of Jesus, 501 

Journey by buggy, 52 

Judas Iscariot, 93, 229, 282, 283, 455 

Jude, brother of Jesus, 500, 501 

Judgment dav, 360, 459, 461, 472, 
479 

Justice of God, 238 

Justification, 39 



Justified by faith, 118 

Justin, 73, 381 

Justinian, 306 

Justin Martyr, 268 

Kankakee River, 54 

Kearsted, J. B., 13 

Keelerville, 122 ' 

Kellison, A. D., 121 

Kellison, Barbara, 549 

Kendrick, Dr., 414 

Kennedy, Hon. Bobt., 612 

Kepler, 304, 312 

K. G. C, 135 

Kierson, L, 357 

Kincaid, Wm., 612 

KINDNESS, 175 

Kindness to criminals, 347 

"Kingdom" before Pentecost, 223, 

263, (see Camp bell ism) 
King Henry, 504 
King James I., 426 
King, "Thannie," 94 
Kingworth, Mary, 549 
Kinkade, 49, 84, 131, 135, 399, 5-1S, 

552, 553, 571, 612 
Kinney, 7 
Kinney, B. O., 549 
Kipp, Oliver B., 339 
Kirkland, 550 
Kitto, 220 

Knight, Josiah, 534 
Knight, Mrs. Josiah (Deborah), 

613, 632 
Knights of the Golden Circle, 135, 

192 
Knowledge, 160 
Kolasis, 349 
Kuhner, 261 
Kuria, 439 
Kuriakos, 264, 425 
Kuriou, 425 

Labor question, 214 seq. 
Lack of organization, 85 
Lactantius, 73 
Ladley, D. F., 58, 551, 571 
Lafayette, N. J., 23 
Lamb of God, 114 
Lamon, John J., 358 
Lane, Wm., 28, 541 
LANGUAGE, 177 
Language, 317 
La Place, 371 

Last letters of N. S., 630-632 
Last newspaper writing of N. S., 

633-634 
Lauer, 31, 553 

Law and gospel, 383, 438, 443, 454 
LAW AND GOSPEL, 431 
Lawshe, 37, 553 
LAW, THE, 443 



660 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Laymen and ordinances, 484 

Lazarus, 228 

LEARNING, 175 

LEARN WAR NO MORE, 351 

Leaving Milford, 45 

Lectures, 629, 630 

"Legion," 373 

Leprosy, 373 

Letters immediately preceding 

death, 630-632 
"Let us have a word of prayer," 94 
Lewis, Mrs. R. P., 483 
LEXICONS AND GRAMMARS, 

THE, 261 
Liberality, 89, 110 
Liberty among Christians, 353, 436, 

437, 492, 520, 521, 526, 527 
Liberty prevailing, 355 
Licentiousness of Rome andGreece, 

170 
Lick, Absolom, 460 
Liddell and Scott (Lexicon), 261 
Life, 439, 550 

LINCOLN'S FUNERAL ORA- 
TION, 189 
LIQUOR LEGISLATION, 590, 591 
LITTLE BOY, 640 
little Compton, R. L, 17 
"LITTLE CHILD, A," (Isa. 11:6), 

410 seq. 
Littlejohn, Utley, 552 
Little York, 32, 45 
Liverpool, 611 
"Living creatures," 374 
Locke, 41, 417 
Locomotive, 220 
Logos, 309, 310, 383, 384 
Aoyof, 59, 73 

LOITERING IN LONDON, 617, 618 
London, 619 
Long, 571 

Long, D. A., 587, 588, 612, 631 
Long life promised, 550 
Look back to father Abraham, 387 
Lord of hosts, 339 
Lord's prayer, 362, 363, 472 
Lord's supper, 282 (see communion) 
Lost, 569 
Louisiana, 197 
Love, 272, 294 
Lowell; James Russell, 572 
Loyalty a duty, 529 
Luce, Ambrose E., 562 
Lucian, 170 
Luther, 81, 207, 210, 355. 408, 417, 

556, 568 
Lutherans, 409, 506 
Lycurgus, 163 
Lynching, 450 
Lynn, J. T., 617 



Macaulay, 577 

Machinery, 298 

MacKnight, 589 

Madrid, Iowa, 122 

Magi, 181, 182 

Magna Charta, 221 

Mahan, Gen., 137 

Mahomet (see Mohammed), 131 

Malak, 276 

Mann, Horace, 543, 544, 551, 578, 

588 
MANNER OF PRAYER, 362 
Manning, J. N., 549 
" Man of One Book," 355 
"Man of Sin, "624. 
" Man of straw," 379 
Man's rank, 214 
Man was created king of the earth, 

574 
Mapes, Benj., 549 
Marcion, 471 
MARRIAGE, 174 
Marriage, 386, 387, 441 
Marriage law of Hebrew origin, 174 
Marriage (of N. S.), 29 
Marshall, Robert, 495 
Marty n, Dora, 629 
Mary, 225, 226, 496 seq. 
Mary Magdalen, 544 
Mary, wife of Cleopas, 499 
Masses and holy water, 212 
Masters, S. B., 506 
Materialists, 179 
Mattison, 111 
MATTISON ON THE TRINITY, 

127, 399 
Maxwell, Sarah King, 94 
MAY I? 582 
McBurney, Gov., 231 
McCalla, 252, 253 
MeClain, Alexander, 58, 553 
McConkey, Rev., 137 
McCosh, 468 
McCullough, Geo., 344 
McCune, 334, 366, 368, 378 
McDaniel, Moses, 549 
McDill, 275, 478 
McFaddin, C, 484 
McGuire, 553 
McKinney, A. L., 52, 65, 77, 224, 

551, 573 
McKnight, 402 
McNemar, Richard, 495 
McPherson, Anna, 612, 617 
McWhinney, T. M., 525, 528, 529, 

532, 548 
Meadville, 8, 58 
Mediator, 128, 321 
Meditation, 535 
Mediums, 339 



TOPICAL INDEX 



661 



Medway, N. Y., 379 

Melancthon, 355, 408, 556 

Melcbizedec, 471 

Mellick, 37 

Memnon's statue, 170 

Memorial Day, 598 

Menzie, Dr., 58 

MERCY ON THE PEOPLE, 347 

Mere man, 311 

Merom, Indiana, 31, 133 

Merritt, J. B., 389 

Merritt, J. G., 281 

MESSIAH AND HIS GREAT SAL- 
VATION, 112 

Messiah's coming, 181 

Metanoia, 281 

Methodism, 10, 56, 64-69, 79, 104, 
125, 127, 131, 166,355, 409 

Methodist, 13-16, 58 

Methodists, 405 

Michael, 277, 374 

Michael Angelo, 622 

Milford, -N. J., 12, 30, 31, 33, 36, 45, 
47, 605, 606, 627, 628, 635 

Millard, David, 548, 557, 571, 631 

Millard, D. E., 529 

Millennial Harbinger (newspaper), 
251, 271 

Millennium, 490, 505 

Millerism (see Adventism) 

Miller, John, 366-368, 378, 432, 433 

Miller, Judge, 573 

Milner, 499, 500 

Milton, 41, 417 

Minister and his family, 88 

Ministering spirits, 460 

Ministers, 547-559, 556 

MINISTERS, ASSIST THE, 379 

MINISTERS, CHRISTIAN, 316 seq. 

Miracles, 76, 114, 517 

Miriam, 225, 401 

MISCALLED ORTHODOX DOC- 
TRINES, 68 

MISREPRESENTATION, 378 

Misrepresentation of the denomi- 
nation, 311 

Missionary, 91, 95, 98-100 

Missionary sympathy, 615, 616 

Mission Board, 604, 606 

Mission Congress, 611-617 (see 
speech), 635 

Mississippi, 197 

Mitchell, Wm, 553 

Modern age, spirit of, 107 

Mohammed, 131, 168, 290, 337, 400, 
482, 498 

Mohammedanism, 291, 361, 463, 465, 
477 

Moloch, 170 

Monophisites, 463, 465 



Monotheists, 463 

Montanists, 465 

Montgomery, 58 

Moody, 290, 334, 434 

Mooney, I., 383 

Morality (comparative) of sects, 

512 
Moral resurrection, 501 
More (Episcopal clergyman), 38 
Morgridge, 23, 24, 557 
Mormon Bible, 267 
Mormonism, 127, 386 
Morrill, O. E., 552, 568 
Morris, Orpha J., 455 
Morris, Sylvester, 550 
Morrison, 39 
Morrow, S. S., 504 
Morse, S. H., 549 
Mosaic law, 438, 443, 454 
Moscow, Pa., 627, 628 
Moses, 80 

Moses compared with Jesus, 72 
Mosheim, 269 
Mother church, 425, 623 
"Mother of God," 623 
Mothers, New England, 155, 159 
Mother the teacher, 155 
Mourners' bench, 475 . 
Mourning for the dead, 228 
Mudge, David, 550 
Music (church), 447 
MY GOD, 616 
Name, 51, (see Christian), 69, 105, 

324-327, 331, 425, 484, 491-495 
NAME "CHRISTIANS," THE, 588- 

590 
Name, importance of, 353 
Name of Christ, 71 
Naomi, 45 
Naples, 628 

Narrowed Scriptures, 280 
National Repository (newspaper), 

466 
NATIONAL THANKSGIVING, 

297 
Nation (newspaper), 432 
"Natural affection," 228 
Nestorians, 465 
New Bedford, 23, 536, 540, 541, 561, 

562, 601 
New Bedford farewell, 561-569 
New Bedford Signal (newspaper), 

562 
New England mothers, 155 
Newgent, Rev., 137 
New Harmony, Indiana, (skepti- 
cal colony), 224 
New Jersey Conference, 25, 542 
"Newlight," 491 
Newman, Alexander, 98, 100 



662 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



New Testament, "some book writ- 
ten by a heretic," 124 

Newton, 41, 304, 312, 408, 417 

New York Herald, 486 

New York Times, 66, 67 

Nice, 74 

Nod, 405 

Non-resistance, 140 

"North Church," New Bedford, 
542 

No sects, 105 

NOTES FROM SUMMERBELL, (in 
Europe), 617 

Now, 59 

Novatian, 269 

Novatus, 602 

Numa, 427, 464 

Nun, 427, 464 

Nutt, Samuel, 552 

Oath, 504 

Oatman, Dr., 38 

Obedience the first law, 113 

OBJECTIONS, 172 

Objections to Bible position an- 
swered, 105 

"OF TWO EVILS, CHOOSE THE 
LEAST," 634 

O'Kelley, James, 551, 554, 557, 571 

OLDEST (THANKSGIVING) 
PROCLAMATION, 297 

Old men admonished, 91 

OMNIPOTENCE, 63 seq. 

OMNIPRESENCE, 58, 61-63 

OMNISCIENCE, 58, 60, 61 

"Once in grace always in grace," 
368 

Once, one saw and loved you, 43 

O'Neal, Kelly, 231 

One God, 131, 286, (see trinity), 315, 
316 

ONE HUNDRED REASONS 
(against Campbellism), 233 seq. 

"One plan," 126 

Only a chaplain, 148 

"Only six," 210 

Only true God, 287 

Operation on throat, 38 

Opinions, 263 seq., 281 

OPPORTUNITY, 433 

Oppression of the poor, 221, 338, 
(see eight-hour question) 

Order of salvation, 117, 247, 248 

Ordinance, 436, 458 (see laymen) 

Ordination, 17, 23, 36, 225, 366, 375, 
405, 458, 484 

Ordination of women, 329 

Organization, 85, 455, 521 

Origeu, 73, 268 

Original siu, 39, (see total deprav- 
ity), 69, 125, (see infants), 154 



Origin of Christians, 521 

Origin of evil, 388 

ORTHODOX AND EVANGEL- 
ICAL, 405 

ORTHODOX — EVANGELICAL, 
395 

"Orthodox" savior, 478, 479 

Orthodoxy, 12, 61, 68, 69, 329, 334, 
399, 406, 407, 413, 444, 446, 466 

" Orthodoxy is my doxy and heter- 
odoxy is your doxy," 396 

Or vis, E. E., 280 

Osborn, James H., 342 

Osborn, John, 552 

Osborn, J. W., 635 

Osborne Prairie, 52 

" Other sheep, not of this fold," 508 

"Our Beloved Chaplain," 153 

OUR CHILDREN, 441 

OUR DECEASED MINISTERS, 547 

OUR DOCTRINE, 413 

OUR GIRLS, 572 seq. 

OUR MISSION, 419 seq. 

OUR NATION'S PROGRESS, 299 

OUR POSITION, 379 

OUTLOOK, THE, 361 

Over the sea and land asunder, 29 

Overton, S., 344 

Owen (the skeptic), 224 

Paganism, 337 

Paisley, Scotland, 617, 627 

Palladium, 78, 112 

Palmer, F. A., 13, 592, 607 

Palmer College, 232 

Pangburn, Win., 275, 478, 534, 636 

Paradise, 438, 459, 506 

Pardon, 242 

PARIS, 618-621 

PARSON'S CLOAK, THE, 305 

Partialism, 230 

Partnership, 149 

Passover, 282, 283 

Pastor, 332 

PASTOR, THE, 440 

Patriotism, 592 

Paul, 21, 22, 220, 340 

Paulinians, 463 

Peake, C. A., 548, 549, 550 

PECULIARITIES OF THE GREEK 
CHURCH, 410 

Pelagians, 463 

Penalty, 368 

Penn, *Wm., 602 

Pennell, 573 

Pentecost, 223, 226, (see Campbell- 
ism), 263, 426, 435, 448 

PEOPLE WHOM IT (CAMPBELL- 
ISM) EXCLUDES FROM 
HEAVEN, 238 

PERFECT CREED, A, 428 



TOPICAL INDEX 



663 



Perfection, 344, 385, 433 

Perkins, Monroe, 438 

Perry's Mills, 24, 25, 31 

Persecution, 34, 38, 80, 107, 306, 334, 
337, 351, 352, 398, 400, 463-465, 
531, 618 

Perseverance of the saints, 368 

Persis 225 

Personality of the Holy Ghost, 284, 
345 

"Person" (orthodox), 466, 467 

Pessimism, 427 

PETER POMPOUS, THE POLITI- 
CIAN, 402 

Pharaoh, 229 

Phases of prayer, 319 

Phebe, 225 

Phelps (Methodist clergyman), 64- 
66, 76 

Philanthropies spring from the 
gospel, 294, 337 

Philip's daughters, 225, 401, 422, 
441 

Philip, the evangelist, 422, 441 

Phillips, John, 135, 552 

Philosophy and religion, 295 

Philosophy of atonement, 359 

Physical character of early Chris- 
tians, 84 

PICTURE OF OUR GRAND- 
MOTHERS' TIMES, 299 

PICTURE OF PROGRESS, 299 

PICTURE OF THE TRUE MOTH- 
ER (church), 623, 624 

Pierce, Ephraim, 470 

Pierson, Win., 549 

Piety of the "orthodox," 409 

Pioneer preaching, 97 

Pitman, Ben, 76 

Pius IX., 464 seq., 622 

PLACES FROM WHICH THls 
DOCTRINE (CAMPBELL- 
ISM) EXCLUDES SALVA- 
TION, 238 

"PLAGUE IN THE HEAD," 486 

"Plan of Salvation," 117, 126, 233 
seq. (see Campbellism) 

Plato, 80, 165, 221, 545 

Platonism, 18, 80 

Plea of union, 390, 392 

Plenary inspiration, 129 

Pliny, 168, 169 

Pliny, concerning Christ as God, 
348 

Plummer, Frederick, 317, 548, 571 

Plutarch, 165 

Plymouth, Pa., 28, 29 

Poff, Samuel, 549 

Politics, 76, 196 

Polk City, 122 



Pontifex Maximus, 427, 464 

POOR, 173 

Poor, 217 

"Poor," 358 

Poor in spirit, 358 

Pope, 207, 208, 341, 426, 427, 464, 469 

POPE, DEATH OF THE, 464 

Popery, 330 (see Romanism), 355, 

465, 477, 623, 626, 630 
Popular errors, 106 
Popularity not heavenly approval, 

107 
POPULAR PULPIT, THE, 334 seq. 
Popular religions, 107, 289, 334 
Porter, 366 
Potter,. 334, 468 
Potter, James, 550 
Pounsford, A. K., 561 
Pouring, 374 
Powers, Stephen, 13 
"Prairie apples," 96 
Prairies, 57 
PRAYER, 447 
Prayer, 55, 109, 117, 118, 22S, 237, 

245, 319-321, 362, 364, 447-449, 

565, 630 

Grayer and speaking 

MEETING, 433 

Prayer by sinners, or for sinners, 
255, 447-449 

PRAYER, EXAMPLES OF, 237 

Prayer, family, 535 

Prayer, Lord's, 362 

PRAYER OF GLORY, THE, 315 

Prayer, secret and public, 88 

Praying, 22 

Preacher, 404 

Preaching (N. S.), 22, 58, 96, 122, 
* 123, 135-137, 148, 227, 293 

Preaching most productive, 356, 419 

Preaching v . card-playing, 46 

PREDESTINATION AND FREE 
GRACE, 353 

Predestination not implied by om- 
niscience, 61 

Preparation for pardon, 242 

Preparing a sermon, 481 

Prepositions, 261 

Presbyterians, 104, 366, 439 

Presence of mind, 19 

PRESIDENT RUSSELL'S STATE- 
MENT, 253 seq. 

Presiding elder, 64-69 

Prettiest picture in the Bible, 412 

Prevailing respect for N. S., §35 

PRIMITIVE CHURCH AND SUB- 
SEQUENT CHANGES, 102 

Principles of the Christians, 82, 529, 
568, 570, 610, 611 

Priscilla, 225 



664: 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Private life of N. S.,. 94, 308 

Privations, 233 

Profanity, 35, 142, 149, 331, 332 

Progress, 91, 299, 328, 329, 367, 463 

Progress of the world, 354 

Prophecies fulfilled, 103, 104, 306 

Prophetesses, 225 seq., 586 

Prophetic 1260 years, 103, 104 

Proselyting, 85 

Protestant and Catholic rules, 206 

Protestantism, 103, 289, 341, 366, 

406, 418, 567 
"Providences," 346 
Proxy votes, 514 
Prugh, Lewis, 134 
Pseudo-science, 295 
Public worship, 565 
Publishing House, 356, 357, 472, 

473, 514, 521-525, 535, 631 
Punishment, 461 
Punishment, capital; 460 
Punishment, future, 349, 360, 439, 

444, (seeUniversalism), 450, (see 

future punishment), 454, 456- 

460, 479 
Purcell, Bishop, 209, 465, 485 
Purgatory, 410, 454, 457, 465 
Purviance, David, 84, 495, 548, 553, 

554, 557, 558, 568, 571 
Purviance, Joha (?), 548, 552, 553, 

555, 558 

Pythagoras, 80, 168, 221, 304, 312 

Quadrennial convention, 77, 514, 
547 

Quakers, 267 

Qualifications of a minister, 556 

"Queen of Heaven," 623 

QUESTION AND REPLY, (Infi- 
delity), 223 

Rachaph, 371 

Raikes, Robert, 576 

Raines, 41 

Real estate, 44, 75, 77, 92 

Reasoning, 349 

Rebecca, 100, 101 

Recorder and evangelist (news- 
paper), 390 

Records (family), 7, 8 

REDEMPTION, THE, 113 

Redman, J. Q., 517 

Reeder, 571 

" Reformation " (Alexander Camp- 
bell's movement), 233, 253, 255 

Reformation checked, The, 556 

Reformation, The, 281, 289, 355, 406, 
559 

Reformed Church, 378 

Register (newspaper), 631 

Religion, 106, 167, 560 

Religion and science, 304, 371 seq. 



Religion in society, 206 
RELIGION OF EUROPE, 625, 626 
RELIGION THE PROMOTER OF 
VIRTUE, SCIENCE, AND HU- 
MANITY, 167 
Religious freedom, 83, 519-521 
RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT, 366 
Remission (see Campbellism,) 118 
REMISSION OF SIN, 412 seq 
Reordination, 405 
Repentance, 247, (see Campbell- 
ism), 248, 258, 273 seq., 281, 282, 
474 seq., 547 
Repentance of God, 388 
Repetitions, 308 

Reporter, 223 (see stenographer) 
Resignation as editor, 525-533 
Rest of N. S., 641 

Restorationism, 230, (see Univer- 
salism), 350, 437, 451, (see fu- 
ture punishment), 457, (see 
hell), 465, (see purgatory), 477 
(see hades) 
RESURRECTION, 501-504 
Resurrection of Christ, 462, 563 
Resurrection of the body, 357, 502 

Retaliation, 52, 53 

Retaliation, Jewish v. heathen, 

172 
"Rev.," 434 seq., 467 
Revelation, 167 seq., 369 seq. 
Revelation to man, God's first, 

347 
REVIEw'— ITS NAME WAS 

CHRISTIAN, 324 
REVIEW OF MATTISON ON 

THE TRINITY, 127-133 
REVIEW— WHO IS RIGHT? 

(Campbellism), 389 seq. 
Revivals, 14, 34, 88, 434, 452 
REVIVAL SKETCH, 449 
REVIVAL SKETCH, 452 
Rhodes, P., 292 
Rhodes, P. S., 390 
Rice, Wm. M., 458 
Richardson, T. M., 489 
Ridgeway, 534, 535 
Ridlon, G. T., 382 
Rights of labor, 217 seq. 
Rising Bun, 123 
Roberts, Mrs. Abigail, 541 
Roberts, Philetus, 17, 541 
Robertson, 553 
Robinson, F. S., 512 
Robinson, L. D., 46, 47, 91, 206 
Rodenbaugh, 44, 45 
Rollin, 168 
Roman Catholic Church,. 425, (see 

Romanism, popery), , 



TOPICAL INDEX 



665 



Romanism, 102, 103, 107, 109, 114, 
175, 206-208, 210, 279, 281, 289, 
306, 330, 337, 341, 352, 366, 406, 
411, 422, 427, 441, 463, 464, 501, 
567, 615, 631 

ROMAN SYMPATHY, 416 

Roman, The, 622 

ROME'S RUINS, 622 

Rome (the city), 622, 623 

Romulus and Remus, 427 

Root, U. S., 518 

Ross, John, 40, 549, 550, 571 

Rouge (of Germany), 40 

Roughing ( ?) it, 54, 95 

Rousseau, 169, 179, 181 

Rowe, E., 473 

Ruaeh, 360 

Rumselling, 352 

Rush, H. Y., 288, 308, 534, 548 

Russell, 601 

Russell, Lord, 564 

Russell's Mills, Mass., 601 

Russell, W. S., 233, 253 

Russia and Turkey, 361, 366, 463, 
477 

Ruth, C. D., 35, 45 

Sabbath, 214, 380-382 

Sabbath Memorial (newspaper), 431 

Sabbath-school work, 136 

Sabbath violated in Europe, 625 

Sacraments, seven, 410 

Sacrifice, 130 

Salary, 26, 44, 51, 94, 308, 332, 555, 
567, 592, 631 

Saloons, 352 

Salvation, 39, 118, (see Campbell- 
ism), 117, 235 seq., 461 

Salvation, object of, 536 

Sanctification, 344 (see perfection, 
holiness, etc.) 

SANCTIFICATION, 377 

Sankey, 290 

Satan, 112, 114 

Sat hand in hand, an aged pair, 
300 

Satisfaction, 78, 79, 127, (see atone- 
ment), 130 

Saurin, 63 

Schaff, 225 

SchafTand Herzog, 589 

School (old fashioned), 155, 158 

Science and labor, 220 

Science and religion, 188, 295, 296, 
312-314, 369 seq. 

SCIENCE AND RELIGION, 304 

SCIENCE AND RELIGION- 
FACTS TO REMEMBER, 312- 
314 

Science and revelation, 369 seq. 

SCOLD, SCOLD, 278 



Scott, 25 

Scott, Greenup, 100 

Scott, Milton (P.M.), 100 

Scrap-basket of N. &, 638-641 

Scrap of paper, 93 

Scripture language, 50 

Scrub Oak Plains, 8 

Sculptor, 166 

SEA, THE, 608 

Secession, 196 

Second coming of Christ, 472 

Sectarianism, 85, 90, 327, 341, 511, 
559. 

"Sectarianism a brat of hell," 57 

SECTARIANISM AND THE EX- 
CLUSIVE CREED, 271 

Sectarian morality, 512 

SECTARIAN TRANSLATIONS, 
281 

Sects, 82, 108, 280, 105 

SECTS AND DIVISIONS, 341 

Sects not necessary, 105 

Security, 332 

"Seed of the woman," 497 

See, I. M., 432, 433, 439 

Seeing God, 288, (see expositions) 

Seeking the Lord, 21, 475 

Self-denial of N. S., 144 

SELF-EVIDENT,354 

Seraph, 112 

Seraphim, 277 

"Sermon," 343 

SERMON A WORK, THE, 481 

SERMON ON THE ANGELS, 276 

Servetus, 352, 408 

Servility of common people in Eu- 
rope, 621 

Servis, Judge, 91 

Seth, 346 

SEVEN LOST BOOKS, THE, 569 

"Seven spirits of God," 470 

Sexes, 104 

Shaffer, 9, 607 

Shakespeare, 572 

Shaw, Elijah, 84, 548, 553, 571 

Sheol, 506 

Shortridge, 122 

Shouting, 95 

Sh river, Jane, 459 

Sickness, 47, 51 

Silence of women, 225 

Silverthorn, 28 

Simon Magus, 234 

Simon, the brother of Jesus, 499 

Simonton, Hiram, 49, 534, 549, 550 

Simpson, 167 

Simultaueousorganization,103,306, 
311, 521 

Sin, 359 

Sin against the Holy Ghost, 367 



6b<3 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Singing, 285, 447 

Sinner, 349, 374 

SINNERS, 351 

SINNER'S FRIEND, 323 

Sin offering, 359 

"Sisters of charity," 625 

Skinner, 334, 366 

Slavens, Dr. Z. L., 137, 138 

Slavery, 49, 68, 77, 174, (see white 

slavery), 352, 555 
Slaves freed by Williamson, 551, 

555 
Sleeper, Neherniah, 549, 550 
Sleep of the soul, 438, (see soul 

sleeping) 
Slocurn, 38 
Smiley, 334 

Smith, Elias, 84, 548, 554, 568, 571 
Smith, Gerritt, 78 
Smith, Judge W. C, 98, 121 
Smith, Willis, 504 
Socinianism, 127, 128, (see Unita- 
rian ism ) 
'Socrates, 165, 183, 220 
Some glials there be {we will not 

name 'em), 581 
Son of God, 12, 14, 18, 45, 49, 70-75, 

112, 124, (see Christ, Jesus), 128 

seq., 291, 311, 335, 345, 357, 358, 

408, 453, 618 
SON OF GOD, THE, 49 
SOON GONE, (life), 440 
Sophistry, 209 
Soul, 460 

Soul sleeping, 368, 438, 459, 461 
Source of religion, 115 
Southern tour, 605, 627 
Space, infinite, 59, 62 
Speeches in Mission Congress, 611, 

614-616 
Spirit, 360, 460 
Spirit baptism, 405, 600 
Spirits, 61, 62 
"Spirits in prison," 438 
Spoor, J. N., 13, 549, 550 
Spring (Dr.), 130 
Springfield, O., 588, 592, 631 
Springfield Presbytery, (last will), 

495 
Springfield Republic (newspaper), 

590 
Spring Grove Cemetery, 49, 632 
Springtown, N. J., 32 
Spring Valley, N. J., 27 
Sprinkling, 374, 424 
Spurgeon, 601, 618, 627 
St. Albans, England, 617 
Starkey Seminary, 205 
STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE, 

123, 124 



STATEMENT, THE, 313 

Staley, W. W., 636 

St. Bartholomew, 618 

Steamboats, 534, 535 ■ 

Stebbins, R. P., 77 

Steinbower, Jennie, 636 

Stenographer, 65, 77 

Stephenson, George, 220 

Steward, Rev., 137 

Stewart, 129 

Stoeum, J. S., 454 

Stoics, 80, 178 

Stone, B. W., 41, 42, 270, 271, 272, 

495, 557, 548, 552, 554, 555 
Stone, -Lucy, 78 
STORY OF A NEW ENGLAND 

DINNER, 297 
ST. PAUL'S VIEW, 316 
St. Peter's Church at Rome, 622, 

627, 628 
Strait, John, 550, 552 
STRANGERS, 173 
Stratton, E., 22 
STRAY THOUGHTS, 633 
Strickland, F. G., 631 
Struggle for religious freedom, 83 
Stuart, (Prof.), 225, 408, 409, 417, 

463, 589 
Study, 318 
Substitution, 39, (see satisfaction, 

atonement, etc.) 
SUCCESS (denominational), 328 
SUCCESSION, THE, 306 
Suffolk, Va,, 627, 636 
Sullings, 553 
Sullivan, 550 
Summerbell, Ann Matilda, 8, 9, 

11, 12, 38 (Mrs. Hitchcock), 607, 

631 
Summerbell, B. F., 8, 9, 11, 29, 379, 

606 
Summerbell, Carl, 232. 605, 606, 627, 

631 
Summerbell, Charles Henry, 30, 31, 

33, 44, 45, 47 seq., 51, 96 
Summerbell, E. J., 7, 17, 22, 23, 26, 

29, 30, 37, 43, 49, 51, 53, 94, 135, 

562, 605, 606, 607, 614, 627, 631, 

632 
Summerbell, Elizabeth, 606 
Summerbell, James (the brother), 

8, 9, 431 
Summerbell, James (the father), 7, 

8 17 18 23^ 
Summerbeli, J." J., 33, 44, 45, 49, 51, 

53, 54, 94, 96, 121, 167, 232, 233, 

404, 431, 605, 606, 607, 612, 627, 

630, 631, 632, 635 
Summerbell, Joseph F., 7, 9, 24 
Summerbell, Kate, 7 



TOPICAL INDEX 



667 



Summerbell, Lida, 606 

Sumruerbell, Martyn, 204 

Sunimerbell, Mary Ferris (the 
mother), 7, 9, 38, 232 

Summerbell, Mary Matilda 
(Heath), 30, 31, 66, 431 

Summerbell, Nicholas (the grand- 
father), 7, 8, 33 

Summerbell, Rachel, 9 

Sumter, 195-199 

Sunday, 380 

Sunday sehool, first, 433, 576 

Sun, New York (newspaper), 407 

Superstition, 168, 169, 559 

Suppressing corruption, 148 

Surety, 332 

Susceptibility to impressions, 275 

Sutton, Christian, 7, 29, 33 

Sutton, Euphemia Johnson, (see 
E. J. Summerbell) 

Sutton, Joseph, 7, 29 

Sutton, Joseph C, 7 ■ 

Sutton, Mary, 606 

Swank, N. L., 549 

Swayzey, 29 

Swearing, 35, 149, 504 

Swedenborgians, 409 

Swede Point, 122 

Swine, 373 

Swing, 334, 366, 368, 378 

Sympathy misplaced, 347, 348 

Tacitus, 168, 181, 306 

Tailor, 11, 12, 24 

Tartarus, 479, 506 

Taxation, 201 

Taylor, 548, 553, 568 

Taylor, Dr., 37 

Taylor, Jeremy, 220 

Taylor, Thomas, 33 

Taylor, Win. M., 609 

Teachers, 154, 157-161, 165, 166 

Teel, 26, 27 

Telescope (newspaper), 444 

Temperance, 12, 148, 332, 351 

TEMPERANCE, 590, 591 

Temperance, pioneer of, 552 

Temptation, 472 

Ten-pin alley, 10, 11 

Tertullian, 7*3, 268, 381, 471 

TERTULLIAN ON TRINE IM- 
MERSION, 509 

Teter, E. C, 490 

Tetragrammaton, 516 

Teverbaugh, A. S., 373, 374 

Texas, 197 

TEXTS, THE, (supposed Camp- 
bell ite) 240 

Thanksgiving sermon, 296 seq. 

The Antioch presidents all have 
been st7*ong, 587 



The Christian life is a journey rare, 

641 
The Christians 1 Creed is the book 

once given, 639 
Thee I adore, Eternal One, 639 
THEIR GOD, 617 
Theodosius, 306, 463, 464, 602 
'The old, riven rock, with tongue, 639 
Theologians, 556 
Theology, 349 
THEOLOGY, 309 
Theophilus, 73 
Theos, 309 
The sea has waked to wondrous 

life, 609 
The sea is always singing, 608 
The sea, the sea, the broad 

sea, 608 
THE SON OF GOD, 49 
Thin Bible, 280 
THIN BIBLE, THE, 257 
Thomas, James, 470 
Thomas, James M., 138 
Thomas, Joseph, (the White Pil- 
grim), 548, 552, 553, 557 
Thomas, Mordecai, 38 
Thomas, Robert, 52 
Thomson, John, 495 
Thomson, Jonathan, 541, 553 
Though heaven were shut, and 

mercy gone, 639 
Thought, 165, 166 
Thoughts and words, 450 
THOUGHTS ON DEATH, 228 
Thourman, Win., 292 
Three-fold good, 163 
Three Gods, 345 
THREE STEPS, THE, 508 
Throckmorton, F., 478 
Tillotson, 63 
Tilton, G. W. 549 
Timmons, 534 
Tinicum, 33-35, 45 
7 Tis education will their names 

adorn, 155 
Titles, 435 
Tobacco, 89 
Toil (see industry), 33 
Tole, Harrison, 549 
Toleration, 394, 518 
"To my mother," 232 
"Too many irons in the fire," 300 
TO OUR PATRONS, 308 
Torchlight baptizing, 100 
TORMENT, ENDLESS, 443 
Torment, eternal, 456 seq., 461, (see 

Farrarism, hell, etc.) 
Total abstinence, apostle of, 552 
Total depravity (see original sin), 39, 

69, 77, 378, 410 seq., 441, 505, 547 



668 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



TO TEACHERS, 154 
Tour of the South, 604, 605 
TOUR ON THE CONTINENT, 

628, 629 
TO WHAT GOOD, OR CUI BONO, 

332 seq. 

Traditions and superstitions, 207 

Transmigration, 168 

Trench, 289 

Triangular faith, 207 

Tribute of J. J. Summerbell to N. 
S., 641 

Trick, 52 

Trine immersion, 242, 292, 391, 410, 
467, 471 

TRINE IMMERSION, 301 

TRINE IMMERSION, 475 

TRINE IMMERSION, TERTUL- 
LIAN ON, 509 seq. 

Trinitarian hymns, 130 

Trinitarianism, 289, 364, 366, 367, 
398, 423 

Triuitarianism equals Unitarian- 
ism, 467 

Trinity, 11, 14-18, 41, 51, 55, 56, 61, 
64, 66-69, 72-75, 77, 80, 106, 123, 
124, 127-133, 139, 284, 345, 348 
seq., 358, 378, 408, 428, 450, 453, 
471, 478, 506, 554, 557, 560, 616, 
617, 632 

Tripp, 553 

Tritheism, 14, 366 

Triune, 68 

True church, 303, (see true mother, 
etc.) 

True God, 515-517 

TRUE POSITION DEFINED, 274 

Truth, 82, 289, 314, 429, 432, 515, 527 

TRUTH, CHARITY, AND UN- 
ION, 519-521 

Truth important, 290, 519 

Truth more than union, 519 

Trying God, 368 

Tryphena, 225 

Tryphosa, 225 

Tucker, 61 

Turko-Russian war, 351, 416 

Turks, 416 seq. 

Twelve hundred and sixty years, 
103, 104, 306 

Twiggs, 197 

" Two fat seasons," 525 

TWO HELPS, 407 

TWO NATURES OF CHRIST, 
466, 467 

Two protracted meetings at once, 
25 

TWO RULES, 206-213. 

TWO WAYS, THE, 506 

"Two witnesses," 439, 454 



Tyndall, 295, 334 

"Uncle Levi," 553, (see Purviance) 

Unconscious state of the dead, 437, 
(see sleep of the soul or soul 
sleeping) 

"Under the law," 418 

Unfermented wine, 466, (see com- 
munion) 

Union, 105, 108, 289, 306, 308, 311, 
327, 328, 506-509, 510, 511, 518- 
521, 527, 565, 624 

"Union," 491, 506, 518 

Union (the genuine), 519, 611 

Uuion Christian College, 133-136, 
167, 205 

UNION— THE HEAVENLY FAM- 
ILY, 518 

Unitariauism, 289, 410, 437 

Unitarians, 40-43, 289, 341, 463, 631 

UNITARIANS VS. TRINITARI- 
ANS, 469. 

United States, 462 

Unity, Christian, 110, (see union) 

Unitv of God, 286, (see trinity), 
288, 290, 291, 367, 617, 622 

Universalism, 79, 127, 229-231, 245, 
275, 349-351, 360, 382, 383, 437, 
438, 443-447, 468, (see future pun- 
ishment), 505, 506 

Universalists, 41, 42, 166 

Universalists or Methodists, 166 

Unwise conference action, 436-437 

Usher, Archbishop, 400 

" Utterly perish," 350 

Vail, Mrs., 33 

Valandigham, 201 

VALEDICTION, EDITOR'S, 525- 
530 

Valentine, 43 

Van Dyke, Dr., 378 

Vane, Sir Harry, 564 

Vanostrand, 24, 25 

Van Pelt, D. S., 489 

Venice, 628 

"Very-man," 14, 69, 70-72, 75, 102, 
130, 428, (see humanitarian 
system), 466, (see trinity) 

Vestal virgins, 427 

Vesuvius, 628 

Vicarious atonement (see atone- 
ment), 41, 66, 69, 359, 368 seq., 
468 

Victor Emanuel, 466, 469 

Vienna, New Jersey, 27 

Virginia Christian Conference, 292 

Virgin Mary, 364, 496 seq. 615. 623, 
626, 630 

Voltaire, 169, 224, 337 

Voorhees, 201 

Voorhees, Abraham, 550 



TOPICAL INDEX 



oT>9 



Waddington, 269 
Wagoner, 36, 571 
WAITING FOR THE BOAT, 534 

seq. 
Wait, O. J., 25, 29, 588 
Walden, Bishop J. M., 607, 612 
Waldenses, 269 
Walker (Elder), 292 
Walking concordance, 555 
Walmesley, Charles, 397 
Walnut Creek, 99 
Walter, I. N., 11-13, 14, 18, 45, 46, 

317, 548, 552, 571, 573 
Wantage, 31 
War, 189, 351, 592 
Warning to N. S., 135 
Warnings, 230 
Washington, 29 
Washington Grove, 111., 99 
Wasson, 571 

Waste of human beings, 350 
Watchman (newspaper), 409 
WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE 

NIGHT? 354 
Waterhouse, 550 
Water (meaning of, sometimes, in 

the Bible), 265 
Water-salvation (see Campbellism) 
Watkins, A. A., 549 
Watson, Dr., (Des Moines), 97, 98 
Watson, J. P., 606, 612, 635 
Watts, 41, 417 
Wat Tyler, 221 
Way to heaven, 507 
Weaubleau College, 205 
WE HAVE GODS ENOUGH, 286 
Wellons, W. B., 78, 553, 571 
Wells, 25 
WERE ANCIENT MINISTERS 

MARRIED MEN? 441 
Wesley, 81, 355, 589 
Weston, J. B., 548 
"West" (the), 115, 116 
West Union, Ohio, 275 
Westward travel, 97, 98 
WHAT IS CONVERSION? 473 
WHAT IS LIFE? 439 
" WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT 

DO/' 434 
Wheeler, Wm., 55 
When in highest adoration, 638 
WHERE ARE THEY? 571 
WHERE SHALL I GO? 303 
Where the famed fields of classic 

story, 163 
Whewell, 169 
Whitaker, John, 205 
White oak bark medicine, 150 
WHITE PILGRIM, 548, 552, (see 

Thomas) 



White slavery, 174 

Whitney, Wm H, 47 

WHO ARE THE CHRISTIANS? 

306 
WHOLE FAMILY, THE, 336 
WHOM DO THE CHRISTIANS 

FELLOWSHIP? 307 
Wickliffe, 568 
Wilcox, C. G., 438 
Wilcox, (Gen.), 135 
Wilderness, The, 32, 624 
Will (O. T. & N. T.), 257, (see 

Campbellism), 258 
William (emperor), 631 
Williams, John, 100 
Williams, Robert, 38 
Williams, Roger, 163, 378, 602 
Williamson, Elijah, 551, 557 
Williamson, Francis, 551, 555 
Williamson, James, 284, 285, 551 
Wilson, 8 
Wilson, Dr, 408 
Wintermute, 26 
Winterset, Iowa, 121 
Wisconsin, 51, 52, 57 
Wise, Rabbi Isaac M., 223 
"Witnesses, two", 439 
Wolfenbarger, 461 
Wolves, 57 
Woman's rights, 401 
Woman's Temperance Union, 576 
Women, 155, 172, 173, 223, 224, 226, 

300, 329, 433, 512 seq., 614, 621 
WOMEN, 172 
WOMEN, 340 
WOMEN, 432 
Women first, 586 
Women's preaching, 400, 423, 432, 

435, 586 
WOMEN'S PREACHING, 225-227 
WONDERFUL SPIRIT, 560 
Wood (Bible Dictionary), 131, 399 
Wood, Owen, 346 
Woodsmale, Major Harry, 138 
W T ord, 309, 310 
Word of God, 356 
" Word of God " (Christ), 114, 309, 

310 
Wordsworth, 572 
Works, good, 547 
WORLD, THE, 336 
WORLD, THE, 477 
WORLD CHANGING, THE, 463 
Worldliuess, 314, 566 seq. 
"WORLD TO COME," (Restora- 

tionism), 486-489 
Worley, Nathan, 548, 558, 57] 
Worle'y, S. G., 453 
Wright, R. J., 291 
Wyinau, O. T., 291, 292, S48 



670 



SUMMERBELL AND WRITINGS 



Xenophon, 168 

Yellow Springs, Ohio, 7, 91-95, 224, 

231, 542, 551, 569, 570, 588, 592, 

627, 629 
Yellow Springs Review, 590 
Young, Lewis, 98, 100, 122 



Young men, 90 

" Young People's Prayer Meeting," 

135 ' 
Zeno, 178 
Zoroaster, 80 
Zfov, 396, 398 









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